


The ELEMENTAL Infinity - Uzumaki Origins

by RyuuKage5400



Series: The ELEMENTAL Infinity Saga [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Aeroponics, Alternate Universe - Ninjas, Banbutsu Sōzō no Jutsu | Creation of All Things Technique, Chakra Theory, Droids (Classes: 1-5), F/F, F/M, Futuristic Agriculture, Futuristic Architecture, Fūinjutsu | Sealing Techniques, Genetic Enhancement, Hydroponics, Incorporation of Aspects from Other Fandom Verses, Incorporation of Major Sci-fi Theory, Incorporation of Major Scientific Theory, Inton | Yin Release, Jīnton | Swift Release, Kekkei Genkai | Bloodline Limit, Kekkei Mora | Bloodline Encompassing, Kekkei Tota | Bloodline Selection, Major Naruto-Lore delving/creation, Major World Building, Matter Replicator, Matter Synthesizer, Nanobots, Ninjutsu, Ninken | Ninja Dogs, Nintora | Ninja Tigers, Omnyōton | Yin-Yang Release, Saiyan Biology, Saving the World, Self-Insert, Speed Force, Superpowers, Use of the Dragon Balls, Uzumaki Clan-centric, Yoton | Yang Release, over powered characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:01:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 50,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26173855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RyuuKage5400/pseuds/RyuuKage5400
Summary: Uzumaki - one of the five direct off-shoots of the Otsutsukis was believed to be the only descendant clan with no gifts. What we have is an almost endless reserve of the most potent Chakra. I say that is the best gift to have in a world where Chakra is all-encompassing. All that is needed is the knowledge to wield it - and then one can rival the Gods. Something I'm in dire need of.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi & Uzumaki Naruto, Hatake Kakashi & Uzumaki Yamisuke, Hatake Kakashi/Nohara Rin, Hyuuga Hinata & Uzumaki Yamisuke, Hyuuga Hinata/Uzumaki Naruto, Jiraiya & Orochimaru & Tsunade (Naruto), Jiraiya & Uzumaki Naruto, Jiraiya & Uzumaki Yamisuke, Jiraiya/Tsunade (Naruto), Namikaze Minato & Uzumaki Naruto, Namikaze Minato & Uzumaki Yamisuke, Namikaze Minato/Uzumaki Kushina, Nohara Rin & Uzumaki Naruto, Nohara Rin & Uzumaki Yamisuke, Orochimaru & Uzumaki Naruto, Orochimaru & Uzumaki Yamisuke, Sarutobi Hiruzen & Uzumaki Naruto, Sarutobi Hiruzen & Uzumaki Yamisuke, Shizune & Uzumaki Naruto, Shizune & Uzumaki Yamisuke, Tsunade & Uzumaki Naruto, Tsunade & Uzumaki Yamisuke, Uchiha Itachi & Uchiha Shisui, Uchiha Itachi & Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Itachi & Uzumaki Yamisuke, Uchiha Itachi/Uchiha Izumi, Uchiha Izumi & Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Izumi & Uzumaki Yamisuke, Uchiha Mikoto & Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Mikoto & Uzumaki Yamisuke, Uchiha Shisui & Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Shisui & Uzumaki Yamisuke, Uchiha Shisui/Inuzuka Hana, Uzumaki Kushina & Uzumaki Naruto, Uzumaki Kushina & Uzumaki Yamisuke, Uzumaki Naruto & Uzumaki Yamisuke, Uzumaki Naruto & Yamanaka Ino, Yamanaka Ino/Uzumaki Yamisuke
Series: The ELEMENTAL Infinity Saga [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1900936
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25





	1. Arigato

The best way to describe death had always been the greatest dilemma mankind had to face and ponder unceasingly. After all how are you to relate a place that you can never return from? Theories have been made on the after-life endlessly since the dawn of mankind's sentience but none amongst them ever turned into facts. Atleast until an individual gets there himself.

The realm I personally landed in, was to my surprise the exact representation of after-life I had notions of when I was still among the living. An endless shadow-land that extends far out to the cosmos in all directions. And sitting at the center, on a throne hidden in the realm's shadows, an androgynous being whom you cannot totally comprehend even after being set free of your physical restraints

Garbed in a lighter dark clothing and still exuding a presence unmatched; the being cannot personify an abstract and endless an entity as Death any better. The realm is far removed from the domains of time and space – of that I knew from the beginning. That it is also out of the domain of reality was realized when my sense of perception grew out before I ever realized it. It is worth mentioning that ages later – after having witnessed a plethora of stranger aspects I would still struggle with determining the authenticity of this particular incident.

The being neither spoke nor judged – it witnessed. And somewhere along the way – after regaining back a shred of that sapience that made me uniquely myself – I realized that I was no longer in the being's presence. Having been raised by the religious terms of a pantheon that widely believed in reincarnation, my shred of sapience optimistically hoped for a rebirth. As good as different pantheons made afterlife sound out to be – I was always of the opinion that it is over-rated. An endless eternity of stagnating idleness – even a utopic one – sounds like a good mental torture to me. Sapient mind is simply not for idleness.

My hunch was given some weight when on one of my fleeting moments of returning sentience I could feel the physical nature of the engulfing darkness around me – a mammalian womb most hopefully. That my sentience escapes me more often than not doesn't surprise me. An infantile brain – much less an embryonic one – is not made for holding onto an adult's sapience. At this vulnerable stage and until the toddling years an infant needs its instincts to survive. Developed sentience can only lead to more complications at this stage.

If my speculation is right then overtime as my body and brains develops more, my sapience shall get methodically adjusted into myself mentally until it is totally assimilated. Which is a good thing as exercising my brains this young in its formative years can actually up its mental potential by quite a relative margin compared to its original potential.

It had been my expectation that somewhere in my trance I shall be borne without much perceiving it – an uncomfortable feeling surely which I will be quite glad to have not experienced with my full sapience.

I was wrong. On the fateful night that I shall later realize to be the night of my birth my subconscious sentience flared like never before – to something highly oppressive and yet quite familiar. It was as if that something I was always cocooned in seemed to radiate around me without any restraint.

I was terrified on a primal level – a sixth instinct that kept blaring at me that not everything is alright. It seemed as if my surroundings was saturated with a lethal intent – something my mature subconscious would have pointed out to be likely impossible; but then my subconscious is that of an infant. And my terror was primal – and a combination of them both washed out any sense of logical reasoning from my immature sapience.

Suddenly as if the previous situation was not traumatizing enough my place of rest started getting highly jostled around. And it was not the normal jostling I experienced during my stay here earlier. It was a violent series of turbulent episodes that was very uncomfortable and bordering on painful.

I know not for how long these events continued for neither does time has any meaning here, nor would I be able to perceive it with my immature consciousness even if it did. It was by all means the longest time my consciousness remained aware – I simply was not sure however whether I would have rather preferred it remaining off. The inability to perceive almost nothing of a situation due to retaining the lowest of sapience of a totally matured sentience, is both very disturbing as well as painful indeed; and the less one talks about the humiliation the better.

My reverie was suddenly broken by the intrusion of something very foreign into my being. It was too sudden and finished happening before I could even completely realize it happening. On second thoughts however, it seems to be an even more potent form of the highly vile and heavy presence from earlier - though it did not turn out to be as uncomfortable as I expected it to be. The sensation went out as soon as it came and it was followed by a sudden warmth around my navel; and before long that too dissipated away.

I was now quite flummoxed; this was in no way what I expected the sensation of birth to turn out to be – unless I am now getting gestated by an organism of a completely new phylum or class that I have admittedly no knowledge about. My sixth sense however – no matter how immature yet – leads me to believe that my situation currently is an anomaly. That this should not in any way be happening at all. I was actually quite inclined to side with my sixth sense than with my musings: under no circumstances can any of these happenings be in any way linked to the birth of an infant. That however begs the question to be asked – what and how, the reason behind the emergence of this anomaly is.

Although my question on the anomaly would remain unanswered for a while more, my doubts on whether or not this was an anomaly got answered in the next moment; and in my personal opinion the procedure leaves a lot to be desired. In so short a time as a literal blink of an eye, some foreign body invaded my personal space (which I now pray to be a mammalian womb). One moment I was contemplating the recent turn of events and in the next, something hard was sharing the space with me; and this foreign body apparently also had a sharp edge which currently was in contact with my closed right eye. In some small part of my brain which was not shocked into a state of terror, I was thankful for perhaps the first time of not being able to access my sense of sight nor having the motor function required to open my eyes while in this space. That would have totally ensured my blindness in the right eye judging by the flaring pain I am feeling on that side of my face.

In another way this small part of my brain perhaps was also the reason I survived – for it had soon perceived my sudden inability of something I have had no problem in doing before this invasion of my space – the ability to breathe. Due to perhaps my infantile failure of being able to cast attention to something for long; this small portion of conscience managed to draw the rest of my attention to this new conflict. The foreign entity has most probably severed my connection to that which helped me breathe until now in this space (hopefully an umbilical cord). My only chance at survival now is to get borne.

The will to live and the terror of a death by suffocation are some excellent catalysts to trigger a major part of my sentience that I normally would not have been able to do as an infant. Consciously now I started turning every drop of this regained sentience to a determination to escape this place. And to that end I started flailing my limbs and wriggling as much as possible under my current motor function ability. Every drop of oxygen I breathe/span in now is precious and I am wise enough to ration it economically while trying to ensure that my every move counts.

Soon however my infantile body began to feel the strain. Added with the ever reducing oxygen supply, my mind too started getting exhausted. And yet the will to survive was predominantly strong and the will to deny death was somewhat primal. But even then I knew I was not getting out of here on my own efforts. Not before the cold embrace of death manages to engulf me. I knew not how long my determination and will alone shall sustain my struggle but I was increasingly dreading the moment they withered out and this body gives up on me.

However when all my hopes of survival were slowly crumbling away around me, salvation unexpectedly came from maternal intervention – something I forgot to place in my equation to escape this place and survive./span The walls surrounding me and which until now I was starting to believe to be my tomb, started moving around me; convulsing and contracting heavily and generally adding to my movements to escape this place. This action of the walls around me – a uterine contraction most definitely, led further credence to the theory of my former place being a mammalian womb. And in this case I promised to myself that if I survive my present ordeal, I shall forever remain grateful to this female who helped me survive a sure death situation.

With the relief of an abated sure-death, however came a sudden exhaustion and my senses started coming out of the control of my now increasingly dimming sentience. In my waning moments of my consciousness I brought forth upon my mind a word I had learnt unknowingly while hearing away vague sounds from my mother's womb. The word hopefully delivers the same sentiments I am currently feeling for my new mother…

**"Arigatōu".**

* * *

> **(A/N): That Dragon Ball and Marvel X-over made the new record of having me face the writer's block by a record one chapter. I believe I shall now bother staying in my comfort zone and only bother branching out once I gain enough confidence and experience working on this. Who knows? The ideas of Naruto X-overs with Marvel, DC, Stargate SG1 or Harry Potter are very tantalizing but they are too ambitious for me currently and way above my pay-grade. I am currently of the opinion that I should make my baseline plot stronger and that cannot be done in an attention-seeking project like a X-over. So with that I pray this time I will be able to deliver my creation - I'm now officially declaring to Writer's Block -**
> 
> **"No MORE".**

**Signing off,**

**~Ryuukage5400**


	2. A Fated Meeting

**B.V. – (Before Village)**

* * *

**Circa 1307 B.V. –** The **_Ōtsutsuki_** brothers rebelled against the rule of their mother Kaguya Ōtsutsuki; Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki became the first ever Jinchūriki and the only one of the Jūbi;

 **Circa 1300 B.V. –** Hamura Ōtsutsuki embarked on his voyage to the moon with half of the Ōtsutsuki clansmen and the elder of his twin children leaving behind his daughter and younger son in the care of their uncle

 **Circa 1284 B.V. –** Indra and Asura Ōtsutsuki entered into their first official conflict

 **Circa 1283 B.V. –** Hamura's younger son who inherited his Yang chakra disagreed with the enter ordeal of his uncle's ideals, and seceded from the clan and formed his own faction under the name of his grandmother; The **_Kaguya_** clan became the eldest offshoot of the Ōtsutsuki clan

 **Circa 1282** **B.V. –** Hagoromo manifested the nine Bijū from his mindscape; After passing his last will to them Hagoromo passed away due to the chakra depletion shock to his system from releasing the entirety of the Jūbi chakra

 **Circa 1251 B.V. –** Indra's descendants assigned themselves the name **_Uchiha_** and thus officially seceded from the Ōtsutsuki clan while vowing to retake the name only after defeating their rivals-descendants of Asura

 **Circa 1237 B.V. –** The descendants of Hamura's daughter who inherited his Yin chakra seceded from the Ōtsutsuki clan with all the other Byakugan wielders under their banner and thus named themselves the noble clan of **_Hyūga_** ; In order to maintain a stability that their parent clan seemed to lack, the descendants of Hamura formed the clan's main house and sealed their clansmen under an archaic caged-bird seal to form the branch house – subdued under the authority of the seal to never incite a rebellion; The decision was met with outrage and heavy disapproval from both the parent clan and their sibling clans, thus forcing the Hyūgas to seek refuge amongst the land's nobility never to return until the dawn of Konoha

 **Circa 1166 B.V. –** In a bid to achieve peace to the century-long conflict the then head of Ōtsutsuki clan (a transmigrant of Asura) decided to abolish the reason behind the conflict itself – the headship to the name of Ōtsutsuki. Entrusting upon his younger half-sister (the result of an alliance with the Kaguya clan by his father) the majority of the clan's wealth and the entirety of their collected knowledge and articrafts the brother took the name of **_Senju_** in defiance of the world tree he blamed for this conflict. Thus the descendants of Asura officially seceded from the clan by giving up their inheritance in a bid of peace.

 **Circa 1163 B.V. –** The sister along with the majority of the remnant Ōtsutsuki clansmen fled from Hi no Kuni, protected fro the pursuing Uchiha by her brother and his followers. After a long journey they came upon a vacant island lush with vegetation and a rich wildlife. The sister finally ordered setting their camp on the island

 **Circa 1161 B.V. –** With arts lost to the history the remnants of the Ōtsutsuki clan built themselves a veritable fortress; The sister created a defense while showing a mastery of sealing arts never seen before in her ancestors; on the completion of this project of settlement formation on all the islands of the archipelago, the sister used her sealing mastery to surround their new home with dangerous and violent whirlpools

 **Circa 1160 B.V. –** The ruling council, in respect of the sister and her achievements that gave them their new home , christened their archipelago the **_Uzu no Kuni_** (The Land of Whirlpools) while their main island settlement was named **_Uzushiogakure no Sato_** (The Village hidden in the Whirlpools) – thus becoming the first hidden village; The sister finally absolved the Ōtsutsuki name to extinction by the orders of her brother and named her entire clan the **_Uzumaki_**. Thus finally ended the blood-soaked Ōtsutsuki name with the Uzumakis becoming the youngest, the largest and the richest offshoot of the once ruling clan having an entire country to their name. in the following ages they will also serve to be the Senju's most steadfast allies and also the neutral grounds to host the numerous peace treaties that were to be signed between the Senju and Uchiha – never to last even a decade.

* * *

**A.V. – (After Village)**

* * *

**00 A.V. –** Konohagakure no Sato was established by the Shōdai Hokage Senju Hashirama; Senju Hashirama ascended as the Shōdai Hokage

 **Circa 08 A.V. –** First Secret Shinobi World War was fought

 **Circa 12 A.V. –** First Secret Shinobi World War came to an end; the first Gokage meeting was commenced

 **Circa 14 A.V. –** Uchiha Madara defected Konoha

 **Circa 16 A.V. –** Uchiha Madara attacked Konoha with a captured Kyūbi under the control of his Mangekyō Sharingan; Uzūmaki Mito sealed the subdued Bijū inside herself and thus became the first recorded Jinchūriki in the known time since the Rikudō Senin ten millennia ago

 **Circa 19 A.V. –** The second Gokage meeting; Hashirama distributed the captured Bijū

 **Circa 19 A.V. –** Senju Tobirama ascended as the Nidaime Hokage

 **Circa 20 A.V. –** Senju Hashirama was assassinated

 **Circa 25 A.V. –** Second Secret Shinobi World War started after the failed peace meeting of Konoha and Kumo; The Nidaime Raikage and Nidaime Hokage got assassinated by the Gold and Silver Brothers triggering the Second War; Sarutobi Hiruzen ascended as the Sandaime Hokage

 **Circa 55 A.V. –** Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina were born

 **Circa 63 A.V. –** Uzushiogakure was attacked and subsequently decimated by a joint operation of Kumo-Iwa-Kiri of which less than seven percent returned; Nidaime Tsuchikage and Nidaime Mizukage killed each other on the beach front of Uzushiogakure; Uzu no Kuni got sealed after the last of the survivors escaped their homeland; Konoha forced a heavily weakened Kumo-Iwa-Kiri to sign peace treaty with themselves as benefactor and forced heavy restitution to be paid to the Uzumaki clan now residing in their borders; The longest Secret Shinobi War came to conclusion

 **Circa 65 A.V. –** Konoha and Suna entered into an alliance; Hatake Kakashi and his generation is born

 **Circa 69 A.V. –** Kusagakure allied itself with the Iwa-Kiri-Kumo alliance; Amegakure entered into an alliance with Konoha-Suna

 **Circa 72 A.V. –** Ame and Kusa went to war triggering the Third Secret Shinobi World War;

 **Circa 73 A.V. –** Hatake Sakumo committed sepūkku

 **Circa 77 A.V. –** The Red Death assassinated both the Sanbi Jinchūriki and the Sandaime Mizūkage on the coasts of Kiri

 **Circa 78 A.V. –** Kanabi Bridge decimated; Uchiha Obito died; Namikaze Minato decimated the entirety of a heavy Iwa contingent; Nohara Rin became Jinchūriki to the Sanbi after Namikaze Minato stabilized her seal at the last moment and cleaved the Bijū chakra in half; Breaking the alliance a heavy assault Kiri contingent attacked Kumo; Sandaime Raikage decimated the entirety of the attacking force and succumbed to chakra exhaustion; A ascended as the Yondaime Raikage; Yagura Karatachi ascended as the Yondaime Mizūkage upon successfully becoming the Jinchūriki to the Sanbi after the Red Death assassinated both the previous host and the Sandaime Mizukage

 **Circa 79 A.V. –** Namikaze Minato ascended as the Yondaime Hokage; Ame and Kusa signed an armistice in the favor of Ame and thus ended the most brutal Secret Shinobi World War; Uzumaki Kushina became pregnant; Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina got married in a secret and private affair attended by their closest kin and officiated by Sarutobi Hiruzen

 **80 A.V., 10** **th** **October –** Uzumaki Naruto and Uzumaki Yamisuke were born; The Kyūbi released by an unknown third party attacked Konoha; The Yellow Flash and The Red Death died sealing the Bijū in their newborn son(s).

* * *

**_(Circa 83 A.V.)_ **

**_Konohagakure no Sato_ **

* * *

**_Konohagakure no Sato_** , or simply the village hidden in the leaves. A bastion of all the shinobi clans once native to the Land of Fire, home to three of the five most ancient shinobi clans and a refuge to the last successors of the almost destroyed shinobi clan of another of the five. The admittedly strongest and also the oldest of all the Great Five shinobi villages. It is also the village who had as its leaders – two **_Shinobi no Kami_** (Gods of shinobi), one researcher capable of resurrecting the dead and the fastest man alive whose prowess at decimating armies in moments had earned him a threat level bigger than anyone ever: they had to make an entirely new rank to contain his infamy.

Yet what people often ignore is that **_Konoha_** is essentially the manifestation of an idea, dreamt on a neutral ground between two borders by two young children whose clans were embroiled in a grudge-fueled war that was triggered by two brothers about tens of millennia ago due to a clash of ideals. In a way Konoha is the resolvement of a bitter enmity for a cause long forgotten in the past, from a time from which only hatred seemed to have passed down.

 ** _Konoha_** is a hope for the next generation. It is akin to a great tree who along with its shadow protects all those who calls it home. And the inhabitants in turn, raise a shield of themselves without hesitation, in protection of the tree they call home. Protectors always manage to rise in abundance whenever the security of the great tree is in question – Hashirama Senju and Uzumaki Mito during Uchiha Madara's attempted coup, Senju Tobirama and his infamous eight-men squad during the First Secret Shinobi World War, the **_Densetsu no San'nin_** (The Legendary Three Ninja) and the White Fang during the Second Secret Shinobi World War, and the Yellow Flash and the Red Death during the Third Secret Shinobi World War, are simply to name the most infamous ones.

Still however the aftermath of the Kyūbi Attack of **80 A.V**. had left the village with a serious lack of quality shinobi – ninjas infamous enough to deter others from conflict. Added with the death of the **_Yondaime_** and the abrupt disappearance (presumed death) of the _**Jinchūriki Ryōshi**_ (Jinchuriki hunter); the reinstated **_Sandaime_** alone was what keeping **_Iwagakure no Sato_** (Land of Earth)and **_Kumogakure no Sato_** (Land of Lightning) from an open invasion. That and the fact that the Yellow Flash had also left the two a little understaffed.

Symbolizing the ideal once dreamt by two children of two warring clans, stands a monument keeping vigil over the result of that dream. This monument – a rocky terrain that overlooks a thriving hidden village, has etched on its steep side the carved faces of four people widely celebrated and respected across the country; and highly feared outside. And amongst the four faces, the newest carved one – distinguished by his unruly mane hanging on the either side of his face, is being used as a perch by a child barely out of his toddling years.

Sitting atop his favorite perch was a boy with a mop of unruly and unkempt blonde hair, distinct crystal blue eyes, a round face, and most importantly and distinctively – three whisker-mark birth signs on either side of his face. The boy – one Uzumaki Naruto sat atop the head of the Yondaime Hokage while gazing at the passing clouds with an unusually contemplative expression for the usually happy child. Raising hand with the palm outwards he took measure of the vastness that is the open sky; contemplating its majesticity, might and freedom with a calculative gaze.

Though being at an age where his sentience had just started maturing, an orphaned and secluded life-style had him mature faster for his age. The general passive animosity directed upon him from around the society he dwelt in, instinctually sharpened his awareness and empathy. The child however was not that matured yet that he would question the reason behind the animosity directed towards him; and neither was he aware enough to realize that he was the exception and not the norm.

What Naruto was capable enough though was to take stock of where on the natural order he existed and to question the reason behind his existence. The vast sky where the clouds roamed freely gave him the answer to his first question – that he was quite low on the ladder that determined the hierarchy of life. That is to say that these faces carved on the mountain side, that were so brazenly challenging the open sky and anyone else opposing them, seemed to high and out of reach of Naruto despite his sitting atop one of them.

As for the answer to his second question, he was quite undecided. Having gotten raised by special operatives who took extreme measures to remain clinical, emotionless and discreet, he had a void for parental influence that still remains unfulfilled. The operatives were successful enough that a mere four months after their disappearance fro his life, Naruto had almost entirely forgotten the role they had played in his life. Though unaware of his uniqueness, he was starting to notice the difference between himself and other children his age; and behavioral instinct inherited from whence man was once wild, urged him to blend in as much as possible. The passive animosity of the adults in his life – a novelty Naruto recently started experiencing after starting to walk away from his apartment on a whim – only acted as a catalyst for his intentions and spurred him on. The end result was him trying to forcefully act happy and hyperactive like the children around him in a vain hope to garner the attention and approval of the adults around him – something whose failure made his personality to only urge him to try harder.

Officially Uzumaki Naruto is now at an age where his personality awaits an impression of somebody – anybody he deems worthy to leave upon him an imprint.

Having taken stock of what he wanted to, and seemingly being satisfied with it, Naruto allows a blinding grin to overtake his face and with a shouted challenge to the sky of one day conquering it, he jumped off the cliff into the razing waters below.

* * *

Although never actually knowing exactly why the society around him gazed upon him with disapproval and passive animosity, the survival instincts matured with an heightened awareness always made Naruto hesitate to reach out to the adults around him for sustenance or any other basic needs. The food previously used to be fed to him by his 'caretakers' who also took care of his basic communication skills, basic reading skills, and imparted upon him the value of money.

The Sandaime Hokage – the one who had arranged Naruto's 'caretakers' and had them on his payroll, would later realize one of the many reasons on why he should not rely upon clinically apt special operatives for jobs such as child-nurturing. Though the 'caretakers' had managed to impress upon a young Naruto the value of money, how to handle it economically and all its other applications; they failed to make him realize the necessity of suck objectives pertaining to money.

Realizing that the crisp paper notes in an envelope (that always appeared without failing on his dining table on the first day of a month) had some sort of power or authority over the society around him, made Naruto hoard his total monthly allowance religiously. With his apartment rent being paid for anonymously alongside with being provided with his clothing and personal care (something whose source Naruto pondered upon once briefly but soon let it rest upon realizing that he had no one else to compare his situation with) the modest allowance by the village (provided for orphans living on their own until they get employed) went unused on its entirety an Naruto never quite managed overcome his hesitance of approaching his surrounding society for sustenance.

This made the boy look to the other source of food – the wilderness. In one aspect Naruto was lucky was to be a resident of a village which had forests surrounding it in abundance. The massive forests grown in the span of minutes by the Shōdai Hokage around his beloved village, remains until this day unclaimed by his decree and free to the access of all. While the entire forest was unnaturally laden with chakra, pockets with a high density of it served mostly as the shinobi training grounds. The largest of these pockets was called the Forest of Death or training grounds Forty-four; and while it remained accessible all but for the five days when the second phase of the Chūnin Exams were commenced in Konoha, even veteran shinobi of the Leaf hesitated to spend any more time in there than was absolutely necessary.

Thankfully for him, the forests Naruto chose for foraging for a while was situated on the entirely opposite end of the Forest of Death. These were a modest outgrowth of forest that ran along the both ends of the Naka River. Preferring an area with lesser human activity it took sometime before Naruto discovered a forested area on the edge of a vacant and seemingly abandoned district. A fact about the forests grown by the Shōdai was that its rich chakra density attracted large populations of wildlife which upon dwelling there more healthily for a few generations evolved to populations of bigger and more advanced samples of their species. And with the civilian markets compensating the shinobi populations of the village and catering to all their needs, hunting and foraging became a more relaxing activity rather than a necessity; and luxury is not something a shinobi is much familiar with. The end result is forests filled with wildlife to its capacity.

Being quite new to this lifestyle Naruto cleverly started with foraging and once having stocked enough nuts and wild vegetables to last awhile, he tried his luck at hunting. It did not take him long to realize however that while he had many options, the more meat-yielding creatures were not yet in his skills or capability to hunt – at least until he learnt some traps. Thus he decided today to try out his luck at fishing – an endeavor for which he had collected a few worms and insects the previous day.

Once reaching the clearing ahead of the forested area and leading to the river-bank which he had discovered three days prior and had been frequenting since, he was mightily surprised with the presence of somebody else occupying his spot. Preparing to defend his spot with every ounce of his being, he started marching towards the intruder but faltered upon realizing the presence to be of someone his age.

It has been sometime now that Naruto has realized subconsciously that the animosity and disapproval of the parents around him had passed on to their children. Being at an impressionable age, they took after their parents' conduct rather than rebelling (which teenagers usually do). Naruto's own personality however refused to be denied the opportunity to make a friend (a concept he was introduced to by observing the society around him along with the concept of family – both of which he liked enough to try get his own). He soon realized however that for him, even standing up for someone on the wrong side of bullying got him a friendship that only lasted for a day. The pink-haired girl he had tried befriending, stirred quite clear of him the following day at the local park.

Still however Naruto did not loose hope – though he was starting to feel insecure a lot. Seeing the absence of any adults in the vicinity made Naruto realize that this might be an opportunity to finally make a friend without any impediment. Fishing agenda ow taking a backseat and grinning in excitement Naruto resumed marching ahead and once within the hearing range, he shouted out, "Hey! Who are you and what are you doing here? Are you playing some game? Can I play too? Oh! My name is Uzumaki Naruto! What is yours?"

The unfamiliarity of the situation had made the young Uzumaki ramble away in nervous excitement and anticipation. His rambling garnered the other boy's attention who had been until now gazing at the river. At first he flinched in surprise before slowly turning about to the source of the disturbance to his solitude. As he did, Naruto saw the boy's profile for the first time – standing about at Naruto's own height the boy had a heart-shaped somewhat pudgy face (Naruto will later realize that the boy's face was sharp but was still heavily filled out with the remnants of baby-fat). An unkempt and unruly mop of hair of the color of the most exotic and the darkest crimson hung like a shroud around his face and covering about half of each eye. His eyes were a shining purple (Naruto will later learn the hue to be amethyst-colored) and of the shape of almonds.

Although the exotic hair color was fascinating to Naruto, he soon found his gaze diverted to two other features – the orange spiral on a black shirt worn by the other boy, and more importantly the three whisker-like marks framing on either side of his face, peeking out from around the red-veil his very (fascinating) hair was forming around his face.

The silence between the two strangers stretched for a while as the boy appraised Naruto with an unreadable expression on his face similar to how Naruto was inspecting him a while ago. His gaze was however more purposeful – as if searching for something familiar in Naruto. 'But that could not be, could it?' wondered Naruto. He would surely remember somebody with such fascinating hair had they ever met in a previous setting.

As the silence following Naruto's exclamation now started stretching between them somewhat uncomfortably, the redhead's introspection finally came to an end when his sharp gaze fell on the red spiral etched on Naruto's white shirt which was totally identical to the orange spiral on his own black shirt. With but a fractional widening of his eyes, the boy slowly raised his head and gazed at Naruto once more. Before long however he beamed a smile this time. With the displayed teeth showing longer and sharper canines than the norm (just identical to Naruto's) and a somewhat animalistic curl of his face, the redhead spoke in a loud tone and yet with a measured pace, "A pleasure to finally meet you Ōnii-sama. Your humble and loyal brother goes by the name Uzumaki Yamisuke".

Had he been a little older Naruto would have balked at the offered introduction and blow a gasket. It would have taken a lot to fully convince him of the claims of the other boy even with the unique physical traits and the decorative emblems and insignia that they shared. Being so young and having grown without a family however he was always reaching out to anyone willing to claim kinship with him.

To Naruto, the concept behind a family was to be an advanced and bettered version of a friend that is uniquely his to selfishly hoard and treasure. A family is a source of comfort and a means of warding away the loneliness that is always a constant with him. The concept of an older brother was of someone who would protect you against the world and being young, the idea of someone entrusting their responsibility to his care made him unconsciously swell in pride.

In short, though he stumbled mentally for a moment, it took him only moments to rebound to a happier state than ever. Rushing to his newly minted brother Naruto engulfed him in a hug – something he had seen other families and friends partake in but never was in the receiving end of – although wanting to. While the feeling was somewhat alien, Naruto can safely say that he quite liked it – more so when his newfound brother returned his embrace with a strong and firm grip once he recovered from his surprise of getting embraced suddenly.

And then with a joyous exclamation Naruto boomed out loudly, "WE ARE GOING TO BE THE BEST BROTHERS EVER YAMI, DATTEBAYŌ!"

Chuckling the redhead sibling replied with an equal enthusiasm, "INDEED! THE WORLD WOULD NEVER KNOW WHAT HIT THEM WHEN THEY FACE THE GOLD AND BLOOD BROTHERS, DATTEBAYŌ!"

Naruto was already in love with his brother and his super-cool badass names!

* * *

> **(A/N):** **Sorry for the little delay in putting this one up. But now that it is finished i cannot be prouder of myself. Still however let me know what I can improve and I Will consider your suggestions.**

**Signing off,**

**~Ryuukage5400**


	3. The First Step

**_ (Circa 83 A.V.) _ **

**_ Konohagakure no Sato _ **

* * *

The room was filled to the brim with smoke – both from the incense placed around the room and another emanating from a smoking pipe. The suffocating atmosphere was further added to with a tension being radiated off by an old man sitting behind a desk. Even with the greying hair both on his goatee and head showing his advanced age – a remarkable feat to be attained in his choice of profession – he still cut an impressive figure. Surveying the papers in front of him while smoking from his pipe, the man barely paid any attention to the other person in front of him.

This other occupant of the room (who is visible), had a posture set in stone as they half knelt with the left knee touching the ground while resting their right hand on their straightened upturned right knee. Despite the stoic appearance, a bead of sweat rolled down the masked person's neck – betraying their nervousness. Wearing a bear-themed mask and with a tantō straddled on their back, the androgynous identity kept their head somewhat bowed in respect to the authority of the old man.

Finally after a while more of silence, the old man spoke calmly and without any emotion in his voice, "So you had been losing your charges for fifteen days now and have now lost contact except for small sightings for about two days. Why even bother telling me of this _now_? Why not earlier?"

Taking but a moment to recover his professionalism, the other person spoke in a voice that did nothing to reveal his gender, "Apologies Hokage-sama. But subject U-Y had shown a previous propensity of venturing behind those borders. Seeing as he returned regularly to his assigned apartments, we saw nothing amiss – at least not enough that it could not wait our end of the month report. My operatives tailing subject U-O reports of their charge's similar propensity to venture into the woods to forage for his food. It was but fifteen days ago however that subject U-O ventured beyond the borders that subject U-Y frequents and which checks our admission inside there. Then two days ago both the subjects emptied their apartments of any essential belongings before venturing beyond those borders again. They have yet to return this time.

"Further surveillance by my operatives found the two subjects fishing on the banks of the Naka River which faces that end of the sealed borders. We have a high suspicion that both subjects came in contact with each other those fifteen days ago when subjects U-Y and U-O both ventured into the woods beyond the sealed borders at the same time. We have no information on how that meeting went about, but later reconnaissance – however brief – shows them getting along, enough for subject U-Y to refer to subject U-O as 'nii-san'.

"Due to having previous orders on engagement and having yet come to no particular situation to break from our previous orders, we were undecided on how to proceed, and thus my appearance here today. Should we endeavor to return our charges to their assigned homes or should we continue keeping surveillance? Either case however needs us to gain access beyond the sealed borders Hokage-sama."

The old man – the aforementioned Hokage-sama – took note of every detail until the request at the end; to which he reacted by starting to chuckle sardonically. With amusement rather than reproach clear in his eyes (allowing the operative to unknowingly relax somewhat) the old man said, "While I am proficient enough in many arts related to the shinobi – Fūinjutsu amongst them – I can admit this without shame _**Kuma** _(Bear), that breaking Uzumaki seals to gain access to the Uzumaki district is beyond my skill-set and ability."

The operative – thus recognized as Kuma, suffered from a moment of unprofessionalism as they blurted out before they could stop themselves, "We have an Uzumaki district in Konoha?"

While Kuma recovered enough of their professionalism to return to their earlier stoicism, the Hokage did not begrudge his operative for his lack of conduct. Instead he clarified, "We do have one – large enough to compete with the Senju district. However it has not seen use since Uzumaki Mito passed away. The next inheritor wished not to dwell there initially to avoid being haunted by her dead clansmen's ghosts, and while she was interested to open it up again after getting married, the Kyūbi attack derailed those plans. With her death, the entire district closed until the next inheritors tried gaining admission."

After taking a moment to deal with the information overload, the operative said somewhat shakily, "So those two charges of ours are real…"

"Uzumaki clansmen – some of the last ones across the Elemental Nations and the only ones we have the knowledge of," finished the Hokage. Taking the time to rearrange the papers he had now finished writing on, the old man said, "Thankfully for our purpose, my capacity as the Hokage allows me to gain access to the commercial sectors of the Uzumaki district – of which one of them, co-incidentally enough is one of the three Uzumaki sectors that face the southern bank of the Naka River. Let us be hopeful that I can come across them."

After a pregnant pause where the operative was left wondering if they were dismissed, the Hokage suddenly looked up and delivered a sharp stare at them. Waves of oppressive aura flooded the room. Speaking with a calm that was very antagonistic with his intent, the old man said, "Oh, and Kuma? I try my very best to always look out for the words flowing in and out of my village. If words were to get back to me related to anything we discussed here today, I will know whom to go after in regards to divulging an S-class secret. I will also be very displeased in such an occasion. Are we clear, hmm?"

This time the operative, not trusting their voice, nodded frantically without much caring for professionalism. The Sandaime Hokage when angered, was known to express his displeasure with fire – waves after waves of fiery hot fire. How such an active smoker has the lung capacity to carry out such techniques well in his eighties, was one of the biggest mysteries associated with Konoha. It is a much speculated topic even among Konohan shinobi themselves. While the Sarutobi lung capacity was as infamous as their notoriety for smoking and unnatural mastery of fire jutsus, Sarutobi Hiruzen takes all the three vices of his clan to a whole new level.

* * *

Integration of one's total sentience was sudden enough that it left Yamisuke jarring for days. However while his total sentience was recovered, the memory of anything previous to his vague notions of death was only limited to knowledge. All his emotion-filled memories or connections and attachments seemed clinically erased. After a few days' time he realized soon enough that any memories that gave him a personified identity before his death did not make it to this life. While it was vaguely discomforting, in a way though it was also a blessing. The lack of any emotions or attachments from his past life would make forming attachments in this one much easier.

It certainly did make the absence of his parents in this life a sad affair to him.

It did not take Yamisuke long to figure out which world he was reincarnated in. After getting knocked out two times before the resulting panic abated, Yamisuke was grateful that this world's lore was interesting enough for him to have obsessed over, in his former life. And while the knowledge in itself was not comforting, his having possession of it made him a little hopeful to make something out of it.

Obviously the next step was that of self-assessment of both his identity and what exactly caused his conscience to surface so violently the day of his birth. And what Yamisuke found looking at the mirror, answered a lot of his questions. Crimson red hair, amethyst eyes and especially three pairs of whisker like marks adorning each side of his face let him know that he was the twin brother of this world's child-of-prophecy and that he is also currently violating 'canon' very brazenly. The scar extending over his right eye also settled the authenticity of the day of his birth.

So now that the facts that he is a Jinchūriki and an Uzumaki are settled, Yamisuke returned to assessing himself in order to find something that can give him an edge in this world. The powers derived from being a Jinchūriki were like a double-edged sword. While no doubt powerful, and often the deciding factor of many violent engagements, it was akin to a drug that should be consumed in practiced moderation. If canon was followed and Naruto was made the Jinchūriki of the Yang part of Kurama, then that would mean that Yamisuke houses the Yin part of the Kyūbi himself. At any rate, it will be awhile before his body – as it is now – can take the strain of the most potent Bijū chakra. So that was out of his concern for the immediate future. The Uzumaki heritage, while having more versatile applications, needed proper resources (Fūinjutsu knowledge with their respective equipment, Ninjutsu knowledge, Kenjutsu knowledge and equipment, etc.) – something Yamisuke does not have on himself right now.

So he would have to go for the unconventional, Yamisuke decided. But his first priority is reuniting with his brother. 'Family first,' is a rule Yamisuke would endeavor to follow very diligently. Walking around the hidden village – while a novelty to see in real life rather than in animation – made him realize soon enough that while an almost Genin Naruto (even if a very lacking and under-prepared Genin) might see Konoha as a small community, to someone walking on the streets at a civilian pace Konoha was of a modest scale – easily comparable to the average metropolitan of Yamisuke's previous life. And while the village was not densely packed, finding someone even with as exotic a hair-color as sun-kissed blonde was a futile venture in such a large space.

After a week of searching the streets for his brother in earnest, a despondent Yamisuke ventured towards one of the outdated and abandoned local civilian cemetery he had found some time ago. The place was quite peaceful and usually lacked people (yes, he did feel the average citizen's negative intentions directed towards him – must have been an ability heightened due to housing Kurama's Yin half similarly as housing the Yang half gave Naruto a healing factor accelerated even for the Uzumakis).

Today however one of the graves (or rather two judging by the burning incense) was occupied by a strangely dressed person. From afar Yamisuke can make out a cream colored long-shirt reaching the person's knees with black pants covering the legs and a thick purple binding of some sort tied around his waist. Curiosity getting the better of him, Yamisuke could not resist the urge to further inspect the person whose dressing style seemed oddly familiar. On closing in, the long straightened hair revealed to be framed around a pretty porcelain-toned man's face. A **Hitiate** (Forehead Protector) with the kanji that he vaguely deciphered as "poison", was worn around the man's neck. It was however the glowing amber eyes that were now pinned on him, that made Yamisuke realize the originality of the saying of curiosity killing the cat.

After a pregnant pause where a tense silence filled the atmosphere, Yamisuke decided that he could do worse than facing the yet-to-turn traitor and later reformed anti-hero Orochimaru as his first contact with a canon character. Drowning away all his senses of caution, paranoia and common sense under a brave naivety that one can only find in a child, Yamisuke boldly approached the man and joined him in his silent vigil over what he now recognized to be the Hebi-senin's parents' grave – the exact place where he had first met Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Perhaps blinking once in curiosity to show for his surprise at such a strange behavior from the Kyūbi vessel, Orochimaru soon returned to paying his respects and the atmosphere around returned to a tentatively comfortable silence.

At the end of Orochimaru paying his respects – marked by his bowing of his head once, Yamisuke finally spoke, "So, are you a frequent visitor around this place?"

Turning now to pay his full attention to his unexpected companion, the senin replied mildly, "Not exactly. Just enough times to remember my roots. Or when I am at the advent of doing something big."

The redhead child blinked at him once before asking, "So I take it is the latter? Is it something great? Related to ninja stuff and all?"

Chuckling in amusement Orochimaru replied, "You can say that. In fact it is a step closer to achieving my dream of mastering all jutsus known to the world."

Yamisuke nodded sagely, much to the older man's amusement, as he said, "Indeed a noble task. So I take it you are celebrating your accomplishments with your friends and family when done?"

A small noticeable frown settled on Orochimaru's face as he said, "I am afraid not. Of my four friends, one is dead, one is MIA, and two of my closest ones are away from the village wandering the country. My parents – orphans themselves and without a clan-name – were casualties of the Second World War; my sensei and I had a falling out sometime ago and things have always been more professional between myself and my apprentice."

Blinking at the older man and his now recognizable snake-themed obi curiously, the redhead said, "No offence intended Hebi-jiji, but you seem to be suffering from both abandonment issues and loneliness."

Orochimaru bust out laughing at both his new nickname and the boy's guts. While not feared, Orochimaru always managed to exude a sense of unease amongst crowds that were not his sensei or friends (whatever few of them remained alive that is). This was a genuine Uzumaki firecracker to be speaking to him so brazenly.

Toning down his laughter a little, Orochimaru said, "Oh! And pray tell my young friend, what do you think should cure me of my ailments?"

Speaking with all the self-importance a three year old could muster, the boy said, "Perhaps bridging the gap between yourself and your sensei? Whatever had happened between the two of you must not have been that serious for you to still stay in the village when your teammates did not. It means you still hold him in some regard but do not have the courage needed to approach him."

Orochimaru blinked at the young Uzumaki boy in somewhat surprise. That observation was scarily close to the truth – too close for his comfort. And yet changing the subject to escape the topic seemed somewhat cowardly of himself to act in the presence of a child. The pride gained in his long shinobi career – while the most measured amongst his teammates, was still present sufficiently enough to make him refuse running from a child.

Thus Orochimaru strangely found himself talking more than he had expected to. "It is not so easy," he said, "Sensei has made it clear that my pursuits make him uncomfortable; though that does not deter him from taking advantage of the fruits of my work for the village whenever necessary. He distrusts me enough to actually openly turn down the proposition of myself becoming the Hokage."

Looking at his companion Yamisuke asked, "And was the position of Hokage something you wanted for yourself?"

Snorting Orochimaru said, "Despite the traditional belief, no I didn't. It would have come too much in the way of my research. And even if sensei supported my proposition by his rival, the Yondaime had too many supporters behind him due to his fresh popularity for his feats. However, not having something and being told that you cannot have something makes a world of difference. And to add insult to the injury, when someone you looked up to as an older brother happens to be the one to patronize the latter, it makes it even more humiliating and unbearable."

For a moment silence followed his words and Orochimaru wondered if he had perhaps said more than he should have and overwhelmed his companion. Shame that! He was beginning to find the little redhead enjoyable and his ideas refreshing.

Yamisuke did not take long to reply however, thus ending Orochimaru's musings. He said, "I still do not see how that cannot be resolved with a long talk with your sensei." At Orochimaru's disbelieved look he continued, "I mean, it seems like you are a very powerful ninja to be considered a potential Hokage candidate, you are on the brink of accomplishing something legendary and you have friends – however estranged, but still alive. You still have the option to repair burnt bridges, where as I have yet to make any. I mean you are the first person without a mask hiding your face, that is talking with me. _My_ loneliness is due to a lack of bridges where as _yours_ is because of a lack of intention."

Orochimaru looked about to be interrupting a few times, but did not out of curiosity of hearing his companion out first. At the end though, his eyes softened a bit as he contemplated the words offered in the cocoon of an innocence which refused to be denied.

Yamisuke gave the older man a moment before speaking again, "I have to go off now. But on a side-note your research seems oddly intriguing. Someday when I have something equal to offer to you, I will definitely look you up to work with me. Together we WILL revolutionize this world, 'dattebayo. It was nice to meet you Hebi-jiji, and feel free to visit me if you need someone to speak with in case you do not mend bridges with your sensei. You will find me usually loitering in the abandoned district behind the Naka River."

With his rambling done without letting Orochimaru get a word in edge-wise, Yamisuke turned around and started jogging away – leaving behind him a very bemused Hebi-senin. Preparing to leave the cemetery himself, Orochimaru suddenly heard his new-minted nick-name being called again.

Turning about curiously he found amethyst eyes looking at him speculatively. "You said you were an orphan without a nickname, ne?" said the redhead. Wondering at what the boy was getting at Orochimaru nodded. Nodding himself in satisfaction Yamisuke said, "If you decide to wallow away in your loneliness anyway, or perhaps even if you don't, you are always allowed to share my clan-name. For what its worth, its Uzumaki, and till this day I have yet to find another using the name, so technically it is within my power to share it. Think about it huh?"

And then the boy once again dashed off before Orochimaru could say something. In effect however he was quite stunned. And despite the boy saying those words, another elderly woman from a distant past, with vibrant amethyst eyes and scarlet hair came to his ind.

That night after grafting the Shodai's cells into his subject with partial success, when Orochimaru was on the brink of losing himself to his depraved curiosity and pursuits, it was a sudden remembrance of red hair, purple eyes and the words, 'share my clan-name' – that somehow brought him back to himself and stayed his hand from committing anything immoral.

* * *

After calming down from his panic of finding out that he had been reincarnated in the world of shinobi, Yamisuke had made a resolution that he would frame out the majority of his personality, attitude and outlook at life after the canon Naruto. While he would endeavor to be more cynical, cautious and efficient, his base personality will be as much as he could match that of the canon Uzumaki Naruto. It was that promise which made him want to have his first try at the devastating 'talk no jutsu'. While he was an amateur in the art, Yamisuke would like to believe that he had made some impact upon Orochimaru to – if not halt his descent, then to at least delay it.

The anti-hero while having had done many things highly immoral and certainly questionable, the sheer vastness of the resources he can call forth at his disposal cannot be denied. But in order to emulate the canon Naruto he endeavored to form an attachment to the man – thus the offer of sharing the clan-name. However, to win over a man as complicated as Orochimaru currently is, Yamisuke needed to offer the man a bait. He had not been joking when he was saying about the part of offering something of value equal to Orochimaru's worth. And he had the answer to what could be the most tantalizing bait he can offer to the still conflicted man – the technology to make cadavers.

It had not went unnoticed to Yamisuke that the technology offered by Konoha is by its nature very crude, contradictory, inelegant and in many cases unfinished or jury-rigged. It did not take him long to realize why this is the case. Technology advances with the need of the people. And when a fraction of the population can wield otherworldly powers, and eagerly get themselves hired by those who cannot with a payment, a lot of those needs cease to exist. On another front, the nature of shinobi is paranoid enough to assassinate scientists behind revolutionary technological advancements, in order to stem both its growth and influence amongst the civilian masses. This in turn keep missions coming to them rather than civilians becoming self-reliant with technology.

Development in information transfer shall see a decline in messenger and courier missions. Advancement in weaponry would see a decline in a lot of missions that make up the staple jobs of all ninja villages worth its name. In these lights, the least said about advancement in media the better. No ninja village, as they are now, would tolerate media outing their dirty secrets and deeds.

And thus a halting advancement had produced a society where electricity is still a relatively new thing, and the most advanced on-field technology appears to be radio communicators. The only field where technology has seen a modest advancement would be the hospitals and research sectors, Yamisuke mused, and even then they are decades behind the advancement in technology seen in Yamisuke's old world.

These all factors combined, has in the end limited Yamisuke in what he _could_ do. All he had going for himself now is the vast knowledge of this world's lore, a more advanced knowledge than most of the people of this world (definitely a side-effect of rapid neuron processing in order to house his mature consciousness), a surprisingly effective negative sensing ability probably gotten from housing Yin Kurama, and some abstract theories that he prayed could become a fact of reality (he is banking a lot on them as it is).

As he stood facing the Naka River and musing to himself about the first step of his plan and where could he get a vast source of electric power, his solitude was broken by a very loud voice.

Yamisuke learnt that day that he had the luck deity's blessing going for him too, which he probably must have earnt by becoming a twin to Uzumaki Naruto. For the aforementioned brother he had been trying to find for so long, and was about to postpone the objective of until he dealt with the more immediate concerns, actually managed to find his way to him instead.

* * *

After getting acquainted with his brother for two days straight, Yamisuke was now ready to get back to the game. And he had the direction of his first step all figured out – mostly due to a lack of options to take any other. Something useful however came out of the bonding time he had had with Naruto the last two days. He realized from reading a signboard, which came up when he and his brother were wandering about the abandoned sector behind where they had met, that the sector in question was in reality a sector of the Uzumaki District. In retrospect, even though the district never made an appearance in canon, the presence of the Uzumaki Temple should have made it less surprising.

"Does this mean that there are others of our family around here?" asked Naruto excitedly like only a three year old orphan could.

It pained Yamisuke greatly to inform his brother that they are the only ones of their clan left. No point in giving him false hopes about other survivors out there (at least for now), when he knew at least one of them would more certainly kill them on the spot rather than be overjoyed at uniting with lost members of their clan. Yamisuke had very quickly started detesting his brother getting downtrodden which had happened the first time when he had had to explain to Naruto that no, he was not staying with their parents and their living conditions laid more credence to the theory that their parents are no longer among the living.

To cheer up Naruto Yamisuke decided to throw him a bone, "And thus up to wherever across this land you see our spiral, everything is ours to claim. So how about we scout our lands, eh?"

And just like that the characteristic sparkle returned in his brother's eyes and with that, the two of them set about scaling the district and its various sectors. The day ended on a high note when the two brothers found one run-down and yet structurally stable temple in sector-one (the only other sector they found besides the sector-five where they had met and started off).

With a promise to meet each other at the temple at dawn the next day, they had returned to their respective apartments to cool down their excitement. Naruto actually had the idea to spend the night in the temple, but Yamisuke convinced him otherwise as he knew that it would tip off their 'minders' a big time. His negative sensing ability, while no match for sensor-skills (that needed chakra for which he had yet to activate his pathways), did manage to detect the absence of the few chakra-presence that were always a constant around him; and it had been so, since when he and his brother had entered sector-five. This in turn proved that the Uzumaki district is inaccessible to any intruders – or at least intruders that were not at the very top – the Hokage; as the ANBU are supposed to be the direct sub-ordinates of every Kage.

The following day the two brothers' expedition in sector one begun. Or at least that had been their intention.

"If it is the _Uzumaki_ Temple, then why can't _we_ as Uzumakis access it," exclaimed Naruto after their umpteenth time at trying to enter the temple ended in a failure.

"Beats me," exclaimed Yamisuke, "There must be something we are missing. Uzumaki were notorious at seal making. It is probably our heritage that ensured that our failed attempts did not end up with triggering some nasty trap or attack."

Tilting his head aside curiously Naruto inquired, "And how exactly are these seals recognizing who we are?"

Waving away nonchalantly Yamisuke replied, "Probably the chakra detector seals or bl-." Abruptly coming to a halt Yamisuke looked at his brother blankly, much to Naruto's bewilderment, before mechanically walking up to the spiral stone tablet placed at the entrance of the temple. Before Naruto could ask what he was doing, Yamisuke brushed his palm along the edges of the tablet that he now noticed were serrated and razor-sharp. As some blood got drained there, Yamisuke resumed speaking, "Blood detecting seals to probably register yourself when you enter the temple the first time. Not much hassle when your clansmen have some insane healing factor. Clever as well, for such a mechanism does not allow a third-party intruder access even if said intruder is holding an Uzumaki as hostage, nor will it allow a possible rogue element of the clan to secretly seek inside his invading faction." The blood having finished draining for a while now, Yamisuke noticed with a morbid curiosity as his wounded palm closed abnormally fast before his eyes.

With stars in his eyes Naruto exclaimed, "Me next," and cut open his palm on the tablet without any hesitation. Once done with that part, the two brothers now tried again, and to their joy, this time they were given admittance. "Let us explore," shouted Naruto as he bound away to the east wing which read **_"Hall of Texts"_**. It was a relief to Yamisuke as he was nowhere ready nor prepared to enter the west wing and open the can of worms that was the **_"Hall of Masks"_**.

The Hall of Texts was simply a big mansion of articrafts, shelved texts, huge shelved scrolls, a plethora of various equipment and a number of vaults of unknown contents. The sheer size and vastness of the hall had even halted Naruto's enthusiasm to an awed submission. As they both were taking in their sheer rich heritage of an inheritance, Yamisuke slowly started realizing that in no way can this vastness be of the same dimensions as the East wing seemed from the outside. Spatial manipulation? There can be no other explanation.

It is astounding how a race of technologically backward people can produce feats Yamisuke's old world could only claim as fiction. While in no ways a substitute for the many possibilities technology can open, Yamisuke was humbled by the knowledge that the people of this world can in no way be underestimated.

But now comes the questions that are sadly going to remain unanswered at present. Is it the entirety of the knowledge and wealth acquired by the richest and most advanced shinobi clan of all time? And if not, then what fraction of the original Uzumaki resources is preserved here?

Needless to say that the entire day was spent traversing the hall. Both Uzumaki brothers learnt soon that while having basic reading skills would allow them to pursue this knowledge without help from somebody else, they would have to go through the time-consuming process of studying new languages and going through calligraphy practice the old-fashioned way.

This brought Yamisuke's focus back to what he had planned for the next day. If it goes through successfully and with its intended effects to boost him up, then Yamisuke was sure that he can provide a solution for both himself and his brother to accelerate their learning and applying of the contents of this room.

* * *

Looking at the set-up his brother was busy erecting, Naruto said, "Yami! Why are we not at the temple? There are so many cool things we have yet to discover there."

Yamisuke was currently busy pouring salt in a large wooden tub filled with water. He had found an unfinished yet working electric pole in sector-five earlier that day while travelling to sector-one to meet with his brother. Today Yamisuke was going to take a huge step towards fulfilling a pivotal part of his plan and a single wrong step or mistaken assumption might get him killed. But he had to take this step sorely in order to bridge the gap somewhat with the God-level beings of this world.

Yamisuke's plan was totally dependent upon two main assumptions. First of these assumptions was that his presence in this world clearly indicated that what are fiction in one world are actually an author's glimpse in the reality of another multiverse that constitutes the Omniverse. Thus, in a reality where the average people are overpowered enough to be considered deities in his old world, a cosmic force of another multiverse must at least hold true in this one. That, or he was going to meet his new parents early, leaving behind him a very traumatized brother.

On an entirely unrelated note, the excuse of an author glimpsing in another multiverse was something he will very sorely abuse, should he survive this day.

The second assumption was that his father Namikaze Minato had the **_Jinton_** (Swift Release) – the most likely reason behind three students failing to master the _**Hiraishin**_ (Flying Thunder God) when Minato tried to teach them (hinting at his father not knowing about his bloodline limit himself). Canon had never shed much light on this elusive kekkai genkai, but Yamisuke has reasons to believe that it is less of a nature transformation and more of a mutation bloodline like the **_Dōjutsus_** (Eye Techniques) or **_Shikotsumyaku_** (Dead Bone Pulse).

This second assumption had Yamisuke further theorize that Minato's seal, an advanced version of Tobirama's Hiraishin, could actually break the time-space continuum (rather than only manipulate it like its predecessor did), thus allowing him for a few seconds to appear at multiple places in the same instance. All the while his swift release automatically kicks in to adjust his perception so that he could attack the opponent within the instance of his appearance. It also eliminated his fatigue from a constant slashing of few thousand times in a few seconds and also countered the adverse effects one would face on breaking the time-space continuum. Knowingly or not, Minato had created a seal to amplify his bloodline limit to a point where he could perform for a few seconds the feats of a master speedster of the DC or Marvel verse to an unmatched potential or limit, and with the most effective results.

However if any of these assumptions prove to be anything less than a fact, Yamisuke was toast – and thus he is mightily nervous today. His brother's ramblings thus had for today, the exceptional effect of calming him down rather than getting him annoyed.

So he replied to his brother's question, "Indeed we have yet to discover a lot of the Uzumaki resources and take many actions in regards to them – primarily making an inventory or finding an already existing one. However we have a small problem of mastering advance texts, _**Kanji**_ , _**Hiragana**_ , _**Katakana**_ , _**Rōmanji**_ , _**Hentaigana**_ , _**Runes**_ , _**Sindarin**_ _and_ two variants of **_Uzuspeech_** – a **high** and a **bastard** one. Now while I have found some audio seals and grammar books for teaching them all to an amateur learner, without an adult clansmen the both of us would not know how and in what order to study them to get the most effective results. As we are now – with just a beginner's knowledge in Katakana, we would need all the help we can get. Thus my investing our precious time upon this experiment."

And was it not a shock to Yamisuke when he found two variants of the language his old world termed as English, to be labelled in this world as Uzuspeech of all things. The 'bastard' variant seemed more oriented towards daily use and scientific endeavors, which was actually the English of the time Yamisuke mastered in his old world, and the 'high' version seemed more geared towards posh talk in the courts or formal events (which were in abundance in an oriental-themed world).

Then there were the runes; and though Yamisuke only caught a glimpse, the sheer variants and their applications left him overwhelmed. He could have sworn he recognized the Sanskrit variant, Greek variant, and the Egyptian variant more noticeably among others – though of course they had other names here. And then there was Sindarin – a fictional language even in Yamisuke's old world, found its way here as the Whirlpool's cultural language used primarily for poems and other literary works – which the Uzumakis had in abundance. While Yamisuke was not sure if it was the unique anomaly of this world or a neglected aspect of the canon, the appearance of these languages however laid further weight to his first assumption and gave him further courage to carry on with his plan.

On a side-note, a random piece of information Yamisuke got the previous day while pursuing the Language section was that **_Mizu no Kuni_** (Land of Water) and ** _Kaminari no Kuni_** (Land of Lightning), having had traded with **_Uzu no Kuni_** (Land of Whirlpools) since before the countries had a settled civilization. They had thus been influenced enough by Uzu no Kuni to adopt the Uzuspeech as their primary dialect since times immemorable. Thus while the **_Elemental Speech_** (a combination of Katakana and Hiragana) is still the most used language in the known world, the use of Uzuspeech is abundant enough to make it a secondary language – except in Mizu no Kuni and Kaminari no Kuni where it is the primary language. Yamisuke was slowly realizing that those two countries of Lightning and Water along with the now destroyed Whirlpools, are the reflections of the western countries of his old world despite being ironically at the geographic east to the other nations in this one.

His brother's loud voice once again for the umpteenth time today, brought Yamisuke out of his musings, "You know, I have been hearing about this experiment of yours all morning long. Just what is it seriously, that it would help us learn all those languages so fast?" said Naruto curiously.

Taking a moment to gather his thoughts Yamisuke answered, "I aim to create a shock strong enough to trigger my chakra in order to gain an alignment access to the cosmic speed force while reciting a formulae that I have worked to come up with." Seeing his brother's blank look Yamisuke simplified, "I want to shock myself while reciting a formulae I have worked upon to become super-fast at everything – including and not limited to learning new languages."

A white lie there at the end but Yamisuke had decided long ago that all his knowledge that are unknown still in this world are either – a) he cooked up (literature); b) he worked out (scientific knowledge); or c) he figured out using advanced deduction skills (fore-knowledge of this world). While selfish, he knew enough about shinobi mentality to know that most would approve, and a majority of the rest will be uncaring. As they said in his old world – when in Rome, do as the Romans do.

Naruto made an ooh sound in wonder before saying with a frown, "But would not that level of shock be painful? You should let me try it out first."

Snorting Yamisuke said, "The amperage I will take in , will likely kill the average population." At Naruto's wide-eyed horror he placated him, "Being Uzumakis would tone that down to extremely painful however as our chakra would endeavor to absorb the worst of the shock." Another assumption, but this one Yamisuke was more assured of seeing as shinobi can channel lightning without frying themselves. "As for letting you go first, Nii-san I am afraid I cannot. I would have you recite the formulae throughout the day before I put you in there tomorrow," said Yamisuke dryly to Naruto's pout. "Now repeat again what you will be doing today."

With a sulking tone at being denied the use of his brother's super-cool machine first, Naruto replied dully for what he felt like the nth time that day, "I will drop you the two wires one at a time hanging over the bucket's edge. I will make sure that they are not touching the water surface at any time. Under NO circumstances at all shall I touch the two wires at once."

Giving Naruto a nod Yamisuke exclaimed, "Very well then. Let us prepare now." With that Naruto put on his rubber slippers and latex gloves that he had carried upon himself today, while Yamisuke proceeded to take off all his clothes. Once done, he carefully got settled inside the tub, submerged in the water up to his chin – it does have an advantage to have a small height sometimes. Naruto meanwhile carefully placed the two wires over the tub's edge with the ends dangling inside as his brother had instructed.

"I am done here. Are you ready?" asked Naruto cheerfully – his earlier gloom forgotten at the face of something cool that he would try out the next day. Most probably he had yet to comprehend the concept of death or else he would not be so forgoing with the plan that might have rob him of his newfound brother. As the saying goes, 'Ignorance is a bliss.'

Yamisuke took a deep breath to settle his frazzled nerves. The hour of the trial has come, and failure can lead to the possibility of death. He took a last look at his brother, face hanging from the tub's edge. Two days prior, he was just a character for Yamisuke to look up to. Meeting with the real deal, even at this tender age however, had ended up with himself getting strongly attached to the blond unnaturally fast. This experiment was in retrospect as much about himself as it was about growing strong with his brother.

Burning the image of his brother to memory Yamisuke settled for a nod rather than a verbal answer before he started chanting.

"3*2(9YZ)4A"

"3*2(9YZ)4A"

"3*2(9YZ)4A"

**"3*2(9YZ)4A"**

Slowly starting to build a rhythm Yamisuke started chanting, and before he could get a cold feet, he reached out and grabbed a hold of the two naked living wires. In an instant a pain like nothing other filled his being as the relative phase shift between the wires made him a living conductor. The salt water acted as a nice enough medium as despite being a good conductor of electricity, it was a bad enough conductor of heat to not make the already painful situation more disastrous.

Before long Yamisuke started shrieking out the formulae with a single minded focus partially overcoming the pain.

To a transfixed Naruto who kept watching the blue sparkling spectacle in awe, it was all over in less than five seconds when the simultaneous activation of Yamisuke's chakra pathway and the subsequent alignment of his Jinton mutation with the omnipotent reserves of the cosmic speed force created a strong but localized repulsive feedback that threw away the live wires from the tub.

With a grin in excitement Naruto dashed forward to the tub and found his brother slumped over and in a daze. With an excited voice he shouted, "So, did it work?" Slowly rotating his head as the sensory perception around him dialed to eleven, Yamisuke gave a weak but no less enthusiastic grin of his own and said, "See for yourself."

For the next one second all Naruto saw was a red blur and then suddenly to his shock his brother disappeared from inside the tub before his very eyes.

"Neat huh?" came Yamisuke's voice from a few feet away and Naruto turned about to find his previously naked brother all dressed up.

As the occurring of the last few moments caught up to him, a grin split Naruto's face wide as his eyes sparkled in excitement. Hearing his brother's theory had not made out the process to be wondrous or exciting. But now? Well he couldn't wait for tomorrow to come any sooner. Naruto realized two more things today. One – his brother is a brilliant miracle-maker. And two – although boring in his speech, the actual physical aspects of Yami's ramblings, Naruto can always trust to come through.

Matching his brother for grin to grin at the possibilities of such a power, Naruto exclaimed, "BEST TEAM EVER – THE **GOLD-BLOOD** BROTHERS!"

To such a declaration Yamisuke let his approval be known by simply saying, "' **DATTEBAYO!** "

* * *

> **(A/N): This is my biggest chapter to date and has taken over twelve hours of typing to serve. Please review what you all think of it. I do not think I can feel my fingers anymore. Stay safe in these troubled times.**
> 
> _**(To answer a reviewer):** _ **Yes Rin is alive and I have made no suspense about it. The Jinchuuriki Red Death assassinated on the coasts of Kiri was the previous Kiri Jinchuuriki of the Sanbi. Minato had to cleave the chakra so that Rin would not die with Biju chakra overloading her pathways. In a similar effect, extraction of the entirety of it after Rin had already been made the Jinchuuriki would have killed her as well. Seperation of the Yin and Yang halves of Kurama is the more advanced process that Minato had earlier tried on Rin. Overtime her pathways got adjusted to the Biju chakra as the Sanbi's portion left in her started to reform its chakra. While Yagura now hosts the other half of the Sanbi chakra that he ade himself a Jinchuriki of. This idea of Biju mitosis is something I wish to very carefully ipement in my story without making it unbalanced. The idea of a cleaved Biju reccovering its chakra does not seem as implausible when shinobi are seen to recover their's after depleting their reserves sometimes. However I will surely have to practice a lot of moderation and restraint with such an overpowered trope so that it does not kill the plot.**

**Signing off,**

**~Ryuukage5400**


	4. The Next Step

**_ (Circa 83 A.V.) _ **

**_ Konohagakure no Sato _ **

* * *

Bowing in front of the Shinigami idol that was housed in the lowest level of the Southern Wing of the Uzumaki Temple, Yamisuke thanked the endless entity that is Death for the umpteenth time, for the success in his impromptu experiment with the Speed Force. Taking the time to offer his thanks to Death (through the Shinigami), Raijin, Izanagi and especially Benzaiten has been a ritual Yamisuke had kept doing for three days now – ever since Naruto had successfully tapped into the Speed Force. The two brothers have been putting fresh flowers and offerings for every Gods housed in the five levels of the temple as a daily habit in their own form of continuing their ancestors' traditions.

The fear of destroying valuable resources due to loosing control over the Speed Force, has kept Yamisuke from delving into the Hall of Texts as he had been yearning to do since when he had found the section. Naruto, desiring the same but unknowing of the consequences, had relented similarly when Yamisuke offered his caution. No matter the overwhelming desire, an orphan learns to be very protective of whatever he can call his own.

Thus the two of them took up arms to fix the run-down parts of the temple, and also tried tidying it up – starting with the five levels of the Southern Wing that housed the idols. The top levels housed the idols of Izanagi and Izanami, second level houses Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi and Susanoo, third level had the seven luck deities, fourth level – a miscellaneous collection of the nine major Shintō Gods; and finally the ground level has the iconic horned reaper deity with a tantō clamped in its grinning mouth – the Shinigami.

At the end of two days Yamisuke had realized just how broken a power like Speed Force was – especially in a world where the average population can wield other-worldly powers. He had felt his perceptions and senses opening up as if to awaken in a new world vastly different from the one perceived by his normal senses. The thought process – which had already been exceptionally sharp for Yamisuke – are now at a level where problems, calculations, variables, etc., are solved in a literal fraction of a second. He can also hold a debate with himself and hash out everything within moments. It was a little tougher for Naruto who initially only had his instincts going for him until Yamisuke guided him out a little.

The scariest part for Yamisuke however, was how quick the two of them were adjusting to it – from tapping into the Speed Force both instinctually and at will to mastering the exponentially heightened senses and perceptions that come from tapping into the Speed Force. Yamisuke was undecided on whether their abnormally improving rate was to be credited to the Speed Force, Uzumaki resilience or the Jinton kekkai genkai. Whatever the reason, the idea of someone else tapping into the Speed Force – especially some of the super-villains of this world (he has given up on finding out what Madara could _not_ do at this point) – greatly scared Yamisuke. And this had him confronting his brother and making him promise to never reveal the secret Speed Force alignment formulae to anyone.

The fact that Naruto agreed without much protest, scared the redhead second-most. That was another something Yamisuke is slowly realizing – the Speed Force aligning with his Jinton had stimulated Naruto's neuron processing and made him a bit more mature than was expected of him at his age. Yamisuke himself had not had much problems with that – what with his 'awakening' having matured him a lot already. While his personality and traits remain same, Yamisuke was finding his brother growing more aware of himself and his surroundings. That this change occurred in the three days since he gained access to the Speed Force, left Yamisuke a bit jarring. However the sunny disposition, endless optimism, great enthusiasm and especially the mischievous spark of Naruto's eyes – having remained unchanged, is what had comforted Yamisuke.

Aside from these radical changes, the only other noticeable change was their increased metabolism. Never had Yamisuke felt more grateful of the Shōdai for his bounty of forests. The aptly dubbed Hashirama-trees were evergreen and drew in game aplenty for the brothers to have enough cooked meat to sate their now monstrous hunger. Speed Force enhanced strike to the neck – the brothers have discovered, are lethal enough to bring down games from the deer and goat population they had found in sector-one in plenty; although they had to learn how to skin their hunt the messy way.

However the truth as it stands now – both brothers have enough grasp of their powers by now to tap into the Speed Force both instinctually and at will, thus they can now return to their other objectives – a conclusion Naruto cannot approve more.

With one final prayer Yamisuke rose and walked up to the entrance of the temple where he met up with his brother.

"So what should we do today?" asked Naruto as enthusiastically as ever.

With a grin Yamisuke pondered, "How about we go scouting out how far our borders stretch? See who our neighbors are, how many sectors we encompass, where exactly is our compound located, and all that, eh?"

Blinking once Naruto whopped, "Yatta! Lets start out from where we met and go from there."

And with that the two of them disappeared in a blur of red and yellow as they traced back the way to where they had met on the banks of the Naka River.

"Let us circle around the perimeter once. We will know then what are all the sectors that fall under our district borders, and we will also get to know who our neighbors are," decided Yamisuke. With a nod in assent, the two sped off.

Reaching the end of sector-five, the two brothers entered what the sign-board at the entrance said, "Sector-Six – the Commercial Sector-B."

"Well, that lets us know that we have at least six sectors, and another commercial sector which is definitely not sectors five or one. So that still leaves out our compound somewhere," pondered Naruto.

"Well we will see where our elusive compound is later. For now, let us see how far this commercial sector extends. Judging by the position of the rising sun, we are running in the north-east direction from where we had started and the bank of the Naka River is still running alongside us. As the Naka River does not face sector-one in similar alignment, this gives us the idea that running along the other way would have us reaching sector-four which must be be adjacently above sector-one. And sectors two and three, similarly should be adjacently below sectors five and six. Of course, that is if they are of the convenient dimensions."

"Only one way to find out," exclaimed Naruto as the two dashed off in a blur again.

Crossing the eerily abandoned commercial district the two brothers now stood on the edge of sector-six, looking at their first neighbor. Sadly for Yamisuke it was not the district of the Shōdai's clan – it was instead the Uchiha district. With a grimace, Yamisuke spoke, "See that symbol on that sign-board over there, nii-san? The one that looks like a fan with a red top and white in the bottom? That's the clan crest of Konoha's Uchiha clan. A word of caution. Unless they have the capacity to smile and laugh genuinely while in their teenage years, it is better to steer clear of them. They are a clan of psychos who can go to any level – often obscene, disgusting, and stupidly irrational – for their loved ones." At Naruto's confused look Yamisuke sighed, "Saw a few of the little red-eyed freaks awhile ago. Girly looking, dark-haired, broody – you cannot miss them. Emo-bastards take brooding to a whole new level and are always condescending."

Shaking his head Naruto said, "You have the most absurd points-of-view Yami."

With a sheepish grin Yamisuke shrugged, "Well lets go circumventing the district." And with that they turned south and started running again while tapping into the Speed-Force.

They discovered that day that the sector-three was the "Commercial Sector-A", sector-two housed the clan's residential compounds that seemed better preserved than the other buildings they had found (sans the interior of the Uzumaki Temple) – must have been preserving and restorative seals. Then there was the training grounds in sector-four and the as-of-yet unused sector-five. Other than these, the only other neighbors they had found was the Sarutobi clan, whose district shared its borders with the southern side of the Uzumaki sectors one, two and three. The distinct crest of the double headed trident with three circles on the upper end and two on the lower, was quite familiar to Yamisuke after all. And after their discovery of the Uchiha of all people as their neighbors on the western borders, Yamisuke was very glad of the presence of the Sarutobis on their southern side.

* * *

The thing about having the Speed Force, Yamisuke discovered, is that one gets left with more time with no idea on what to do with it. So naturally when the two brothers were done with taking a stock of the entire Uzumaki district, Yamisuke finally decided to start with his second-stage of plans. This second-phase Yamisuke had devised was two-fold. Objective with priority was to prepare a bait to entice Orochimaru enough to never defect. The other objective was the daunting task of growing strong enough with his brother to go toe-in-toe with the strongest beings concerned with this world – if not surpass them altogether.

Yamisuke had extensively pondered upon the negative consequences possible if Naruto grows powerful early. But he has decided that the one thing he can trust to be a constant in this world was for Naruto to be himself, no matter any possible power-ups. Yamisuke wanted this transmigrant to be in ability like his predecessor – the Shōdai, rather than the originator – Asura himself. Rather than being beaten up by his rival transmigrant-of-Indra only to defeat said transigrant at some epic last battle – the previous Asuran transmigrant Hashirama had defied the precedent set by _his_ predecessors, by defeating Madara in **every** clash they have ever had. And that is something Yamisuke wanted Naruto to emulate.

Of the two known generations of transmigrants, Yamisuke had learnt that Indra and his transmigrants are all the same – feeling scorned and taking up arms for destruction. On the other spectrum Asura, though inferior to his brother at the beginning, had the influence of his father. Hashirama had so much raw power and skills, that he never had to awaken six-paths senjutsu to defeat Madara. And lastly there was Naruto – the canon version initially had neither the power nor the influence (he rather had negative reputation that Yamisuke shared with him in this world). What he had for himself were his impeccable ideals and unbreakable will – perhaps that is the side-effect of an Asuran transmigrant being born as an Uzumaki – but that is what gave Naruto the strongest power possessed by Asura and his transmigrants – bonds of attachment and friendship. The Naruto of canon had it enough to unite the entire shinobi world _and_ his rival transmigrant – a precedent never seen before.

While Yamisuke was sure that _his_ Naruto can and will rise to the same level of greatness as his canon counterpart, the well meaning brother in him refused his brother to work with only his will and ideals. In fact, knowing it to be possible, Yamisuke wanted Naruto to be at least on the level and standards set by Hashirama. Sasuke, Yamisuke believed, can be redeemed at the pain of an extreme beat down if he ever strayed or defected. Yamisuke refused his brother getting two holes in his chest before he is a teenager.

So the question stands however, what to start training with. And then Yamisuke decided that if Uchihas can abuse their Sharingan so brazenly, why can't them Uzumakis abuse their chakra reserves the same way?

Objective for the day decided Yamisuke hollered, "Brother! Lets enter the Hall of Texts. We have to search for our clan's signature clone technique – the **_Kage Bunshin_** (Shadow Clones)!"

As Naruto cheered before vanishing with a blur, Yamisuke reflected that even if this generation's Indrani transmigrant cannot keep up with his Asura counterpart, Yamisuke was there for his brother to push and be pushed by without ever stopping. He had the very strange urge to surpass the Ōtsutsuke Hagoromo. After the Speed-Force, Kage Bunshin will go a long way to come close to that goal. While a self-harming **_Kinjutsu_** (Forbidden Technique) to even someone with a Senju's worth of chakra (who is _not_ a practitioner of Senjutsu and can thus draw in nature chakra), for an Uzumaki the technique is both their best-friend and their cheat-code.

* * *

"So the Nidaime actually created the Kage Bunshin?" Naruto asked his brother. The two brothers were eating a big lunch currently after spending the entire morning in studying all the knowledge on Kage Bunshin at Yamisuke's nagging – and Naruto's displeasure. But as he is the elder brother, it is his job to indulge his **_otouto_** (younger brother), Naruto reflected – especially when said otouto was was scarily smart and always had everything figured out. Naruto had the coolest brother ever – his Speed Force powers are a sign of that.

Chewing on his meat – a wild goat they had hunted down at sector-five, Yamisuke raised an eye-brow. "Where did you get that idea from? It is in reality a watered-down version of the original Uzumaki **_Hijutsu_** (Secret Techniques) – **_Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_** (Mass Shadow Clones Technique). The Nidaime's contribution, while revolutionary in itself, was only in limiting the chakra cost of the technique to regulate the number of clones a practitioner makes. Our ancestors probably were not much into chakra control as most of them were more into **_Fūinjutsu_** (Sealing Techniques) and ** _Kenjutsu_** (Sword Techniques) rather than **_Ninjutsu_** (Ninja Techniques) or **_Genjutsu_** (Illusionary Techniques). In fact, I have yet to come across any records of an Uzumaki genjutsu specialist where as we still have a noticeable amount of practitioners and a wide variety of scrolls on Ninjutsu."

This was exactly why Naruto claimed his brother to be smart. He himself had come across those records and had noticed the same. But the deductions and utility his brother can make from the resources he has access to, always leaves Naruto in awe. Pondering somewhat Naruto frowned, "So why learn kage bunshin rather than our clan variant?"

Taking a bite off of his meat and chewing thoughtfully Yamisuke stared at the fire that has been cooking the brothers' meat, "That the Nidaime was a genius, cannot be denied. While he developed kage bunshin to limit the chakra cost of the tajū kage bunshin no jutsu – thus ensuring that the wielder does not succumb to chakra exhaustion; for us Uzumakis with our great chakra reserves and over-the-chart chakra recovery rate, kage bunshin is a mark for our improvement at chakra control."

Blinking Naruto asked curiously, "So we would have trouble in making a fewer number of clones rather than fearing chakra exhaustion."

Nodding Yamisuke beamed, "Exactly! And this would later on help us as well when we will start out Ninjutsu training."

"Just you see brother! I will have the jutsu mastered in my first try," proclaimed Naruto with his signature widespread grin.

Grinning as well Yamisuke returned, "If that is a challenge I am hearing nii-san, then you are so on!"

It was not until about two hours after sunset when the two exhausted brothers had managed to have the jutsu down – as witnessed by an army of shadow clones.

* * *

As had become usual for them now, the two brothers met up in the Uzumaki Temple in the morning, tapped into the Speed Force, cleaned up the temple while making offerings with the nearby fruits, hunted down breakfast and settled in front of a fire while waiting for their breakfast to finish cooking. Naruto and Yamisuke had spent the entirety of the previous day testing out their shadow clone jutsu and its limitations clinically, and had made every possible observations to determine how best to incorporate the clones in their training.

They had determined that shadow clones _can_ tap into the Speed Force – but the activation phase overwhelms the so much that they end up dispelling. The results had disappointed Yamisuke a little – learning with clones which are surged with the Speed Force would have increased their efficiency exponentially, but you cannot get them all. They had also determined that their current limit of clones (same for them both surprisingly) when surging their chakra without restraint up to the safe-limit (checked by a seal paper the brothers found with the technique whose function was to – as Yamisuke had dubbed – short-circuit chakra) was eight hundred fifty. However they could retain knowledge up to only two-hundred-eighty (determined by the number of written letters the brothers remembered etching when the clones dispelled). Determining to test their limits every month similarly, the brothers then spent the day making around three-hundred clones with their goal to make around two-hundred-eighty. They had managed by the end of the day to reach around two-hundred-ninety-three after which they would dispel the excess.

The fire kept burning while Yamisuke tended to the processed goat carcass hanging over the fire in an archaic set-up with sticks. Naruto suddenly broke the silence, "Say Yami? Why do we _not_ move into the compound here? I have asked you about it before and you shot down the idea every time. But you have never said why you are so against it."

Pausing at his work Yamisuke raised an eyebrow at his brother's question before he shrugged and returned to his earlier job, "I did tell you that for some reason I can sense negative intent while you can heal away faster than me, right?" at his brother's nod Yamisuke continued, "Well I have always 'sensed' people tailing us. Probably our masked-minders – you had them too right?"

Naruto pondered with a frown – as if remembering a memory long lost. With difficulty he recalled some snippets of masked-people teaching him to walk, read and sometimes occasionally play with him stiffly. Had this situation of Naruto actively remembering those memories occurred even a year later, the 'caretakers' would have accomplished their objectives of burying away their involvement in the boy's life under his maturing sub-consciousness.

Seeing his brother nod hesitatingly Yamisuke continued, "Well people with hidden identity in a hidden ninja village must be very secret operatives answering to the very top members of the village. I cannot detect them however once we enter the borders of our district – meaning that somehow they are not able to do so. And if such high-ranking operatives cannot access our district, nobody else can; save for perhaps the man at the very top – the **_Hokage_** (Fire Shadow)."

"Hokage?" questioned Naruto at the very unfamiliar term.

Yamisuke nodded as he started carving into the now cooked meat. "The Fire Shadow – the _**Sandaime**_ (Third Generation) in fact. He is very old _and_ the longest reigning Hokage. There was a _**Yondaime** _(Fourth Generation) – but he was apparently killed in some attack three years ago, forcing his predecessor – the Sandaime to come out of his retirement. Despite ruling only Konoha, the Hokage is the head of all military might in Hi-no-Kuni since the First Secret Shinobi World War."

With widened eyes Naruto took in every detail his brother said. Not questioning the authenticity of the information (Yami is always right) or from where he found it (his brother is scarily smart), the young blond pondered over the information as his brother served him his share of the breakfast. Taking a bite after offering the customary greeting, Naruto chewed on the hot and seasoned meat thoughtfully, "So you are worried about whether the old man can access the district and effectively restrict our entry?"

Hesitating Yamisuke spoke, "While I do not know the man personally, and nothing I have heard suggests that he is the type of man to deny orphans their inheritance, I would still like it if there are as less variables as possible. That no one has approached us is a sign that we have not done anything yet to warrant such actions. But moving in here completely might be crossing a line. It is better to play by the rules until you are able to break them, ne?"

Naruto sighed in disappointment, "I guess you are right. Wish we could have lived here rather than the empty apartments. It is more of a home that the apartments can ever be."

Yamisuke frowned. His brother was not wrong in that. The Uzumaki district – even the wilderness of sector-five, feels more at home than the cold apartments they return to every night. With a sigh Yamisuke said, "Give me five days nii-san." At Naruto's bewildered look Yamisuke elaborated, "I need some more time to master the arts of candle-making and soap-making. And also to prepare lye from hardwood ash. I have seen some hives in sector-five – we can get our wax there. Clothes are being sent to us both, apparently from our mysterious benefactor. Once we have all these covered, we can move into **our** district permanently without having to be dependent on the rest of the village for anything short of leisure and luxury. In that way we can at least prove to the Sandaime if he ever comes looking from us, that the both of us _can_ take care of ourselves."

Naruto's exhilarating shout broke through the surrounding tranquil atmosphere. He indeed had the best brother ever!

* * *

"So how are we training today Yami?" asked Naruto as he helped his brother carry out the scrolls carefully to a clearing in sector-four that they have decided to be their training grounds. The scrolls he was carrying had been part of a collection Yamisuke picked from the other day when they had finally found the old cataloged record-book of the contents of Hall of Texts.

Reaching the clearing in a matter of moments with their super speed, Yamisuke carefully arranged his share of scrolls in a pile while his brother mimicked him. "We need a tight schedule and arrangement first to get the best results. As we know that shadow clones have zero effects on our physical conditioning, the both of us will have to handle that front ourselves. We can however spare forty clones to practice **_Shurikenjutsu_** (Ninja Stars Techniques) and ** _Kunaijutsu_** (Ninja Knife Techniques), as those are more oriented towards aim and perception – which are mental aspects. And so is muscle-memory – we would only need to acclimate to them after the clones dispel. On a similar aspect, let forty clones learn the _**Katas**_ (Forms) needed for the Uzumaki academy style _**T** **aijutsu**_ (Physical Techniques)."

With a confused frown Naruto wondered, "Should we not focus more on Jinton? And why bother with academy style?"

With lips upturned at one end Yamisuke said, "The academy style of every respective major villages had been geared towards easing an amateur learner into the art of taijutsu. We will in fact be learning the Konohan variant when we enter the shinobi academy. Mastering the basics will make the advanced versions that much easier, or so said both the Nidaime Hokage and **_Uzukage_** (Whirlpool Shadow) about their respective variants when they introduced them. Of course the Uchiha would argue otherwise just on principle as the Nidaime was a Senju, and most shinobi of the active roster never bother much about mastering the basics – but that is the hubris of the former and loss of the latter. Know this however nii-san, that both Nidaime were scarily smart and it will be wise to master something, they had _both_ said would help."

With a contemplative expression Naruto said, "When you put it that way you have a point I guess. What about practicing Jinton though?"

Nodding once Yamisuke said, "I would rather Jinton be our last option – a trump card if you will. You also have to realize that as we are now, we would perhaps manage to only seriously injure any decent shinobi _only_ with the element of surprise on our side, before an area-wide technique decimates us. Also, I would prefer the both of us to not over-rely on a single bloodline and thus become a one-trick pony. That would make us very vulnerable if, or rather when somebody finds a counter to our ability or somehow we are left bereft of it. As it is, the main reason I wanted Jinton was to augment our senses, perception and thinking potential so that we have a boost at mastering all the _other_ aspects of our training."

Naruto frowned, "So we would not practice Jinton at all?"

Chuckling Yamisuke shook his head in negative, "No we will. Our evenings we will spend catching up on our education and Fūinjutsu with half of our total 'capable clones' invested in each of the two aspects. During this we ourselves will spend the time reading languages for four hours and Fūinjutsu for another four, before we have to hunt for our dinner. This entire eight hours study-time we will spend with our Jinton activated.

"Other than that we will also spend our Wednesdays and Sundays with our Jinton activated while we carry on with our physical regime. Once that is done, we will spend the other half of Wednesday and the rest of Sunday until four in the afternoon, experimenting on what else we can do with our bloodline. We will take Sunday evening off on rest and recuperation."

Naruto 'ahhed' and nodded in approval of the well balanced regime.

Seeing his brother nod his approval Yamisuke continued from where he had left off on explaining their morning schedule, "Our next batch of forty clones will learn calligraphy – and as we do not have an infinite supply of them, I had to improvise with the tail-hair of all the goats we have hunted till date. Finding suitable sticks and binding them had been a major pain however. The clones will practice on paper with the ash-paint we have prepared from the bones of our meals.

"Next – two batch of fifty clones will concern themselves with tree-walking and water-walking exercises respectively. I will deal out one scroll of each respective disciplines to each of our respective units. You will find a modest pond for water-walking a few steps away. The last batch of sixty clones are going to be learning uniquely from the scroll I will deal out. Nii-san, your batch would be learning **_Inton_** (Yin Release); mine will start up on **_Yōton_** (Yang Release)."

Drawing a blank on those unknown terms Naruto scrunched up his face as he asked, " What are those? I have read up on the Five Basic Nature Transformations in some scrolls at the Temple, but I did not come across those two. And why are we not learning them together?"

Impressed that this Naruto actually knew what basic nature transformations are at the age of three, Yamisuke said, "These are obscure nature transformations. Inton stands for Yin Release while Yōton means Yang Release. These two nature transformations in themselves, are not much applied in shinobi lifestyle in terms of combat. In fact, they are too obscure for the average shinobi to know of – much less learn."

Frowning Naruto asked, "Then why would we learn such nature transformation that does not see much use?"

Shrugging Yamisuke said, "Simple. The Uzumaki signature **_Hiden_** (Clan Secret) jutsu of **_Kongō Fūsa_** (Adamantine Sealing Chains), makes use of Inton to manifest an Uzumaki's potent chakra on the material plane. All that the Uzumaki know about this nature transformation comes from experimenting on the source of their Hiden jutsus. Of course the Nara and Yamanaka also use Inton in their Hiden jutsus, while the Akimichis and to an extent the Inuzukas use Yōton Hiden jutsus to alter their physical forms. The Uzumakis had apparently researched the Yōton extensively with the Inton for millennia and recent notes determine that the other clans, while having developed jutsus that use the two antagonistic nature transformations, do not actually know about the nature transformations itself.

"The Uzumaki themselves, having had no need to alter their physical forms, never saw the need to practice Yōton any more the basics they mastered with Inton for chakra control. This application of Inton and Yōton for chakra control gives me the idea that all other chakra nature transformations are subservient to these two primary chakra natures – or rather chakra types. The spiritual part – Yin, when released from the system can be manipulated to give forms (the aspect of Yang). So I deduced that Yang must breathe life in the forms (the aspect of Yin) when released from the system. Inside the system – our bodies, however Yin governs the spiritual aspect and thus **_Raiton_** (Lightning Release) and **_Katon_** (Fire Release) must be saturated with Yin-chakra more. The physical aspect governing Yang must similarly saturate **_Doton_** (Earth Release) and ** _Suiton_** (Water Release). And **_Fūton_** (Wind Release) must be somewhere between the two. So if we manage to master Inton and Yōton, by my speculations we _should_ find mastering the basic nature transformations much easier."

Naruto took in all these information with a subconsciously activated Jinton. Though a lot of the technical terms his brother had used confused him greatly, he still got the gist of what he was saying. Frowning again Naruto asked, "But would not mastering such complex nature types take much time? And why are we learning different ones?"

Yamisuke said, "To your second question the answer is that the two of us, even though twins, have shown affinity for the opposite nature type. You seem to have more inclination towards Yōton while I have in Inton. As for the complexity of these two nature types – well the Nara, Yamanka and the Akimichi are taught their clan Hiden jutsus when they are barely toddlers. If _they_ can do it at that age, then so can the both of us."

Naruto nodded in agreement to that but still asked, "If you and I have affinities for Inton and Yōton respectively, then why are we learning the opposites?"

Grinning this time Yamisuke said, "Learning the chakra-type you have a talent in _now_ , would later make it more difficult to learn the other one you _don't_ have an affinity for. To you, learning Yōton after Inton would be very easy. Also once done with our current objectives, we can teach each other what we have learnt – thus making our learning process that much easier, efficient and fast."

Nodding in realization Naruto exclaimed, "That is quite genius of you Yami. So anything more left before we start training?"

"One more thing actually," said Yamisuke. "It is about the aspect of kage bunshin that relays acquired memory. While efficient, this goes only one direct way – from the dispelled clone to the caster. Thus the clones dispelling away would not relay _their_ memories to the still active clones – something that would have made this much easier. But as they don't, we will make a set-up where we dispel all our active clones every hour and replenish the units with fresh clones. This will ensure that the day is not wasted away in learning the same thing repeatedly by multiple clones or one clone solving something already been solved by another. This set-up will also continue during our study-sessions. As the chakra needed for conjuring three-hundred clones get replenished by us under six minutes, the schedule will not be much of a hassle."

Naruto nodded, "Good thinking on that one. Should we begin now?"

Yamisuke nodded in return, "Hai!"

* * *

**_ (Circa 84 A.V.) _ **

**_ Konohagakure no Sato _ **

* * *

Hiruzen could admit without shame that he was officially stumped. It has been about three months now since his _unofficial_ charges have vacated their home and left out to live full time in the Uzumaki district. He had ventured into the old commercial sectors he had access to, a few times in search of the two, but it seemed that they do not frequent those areas much. In hindsight it makes little sense for two children to venture into vacant commercial sectors.

The last two months had been hectic for him – what with the end of one batch's years at the academy in December and their transitioning into ninja life the previous month. Among the promising graduates this year had been Uchiha Itachi. In the same vein, relations between the village's authority body and the Uchiha clan itself, is at an all-time low. Hiruzen had reasons to believe that the young Uchiha prodigy will go on to play a major role in the ongoing conflict between the village and his clan. He had not become this old while in this profession without developing some sixth-sense for potential in his sub-ordinates. He had after all recognized long ago the spark that differentiated a specialty from the norm in both his successor Minato and in Kushina – even though the latter had not yet displayed any proficiency in arts that is _not_ Fūinjutsu.

And the thought of _those_ two brought him back to his missing charges. He was not worried – he knew they are safe, and his clan gives him regular detailed reports of activity in the neighboring Uzumaki district – enough to show signs of the two thriving. He knew not what those two were up to, but in his many walks along the banks of the Naka River, he had himself seen fishing lines set up along the banks that all but said who could be behind it.

When it comes to his Uzumaki charges Hiruzen's default feeling is guilt. Not knowing the possible consequences of keeping two halves of the Kyūbi Jinchūrikis in such close proximity, he had endeavored to separate them from the very beginning – deciding that he can reunite them a few years later when he would be sure that there will be no harmful consequences from that.

Turns out that he need not have bothered. Those two have found each other _on_ the lands of their ancestral district without any help from any third-party; and they have somehow figured out that they are siblings. If _that_ there is not destiny then Hiruzen's weathered heart knew not what is. He was saddened however that between the comfort of their apartments and the warmth of the wilderness of their district, they chose the latter – mostly on account of the negative treatment they faced at the hands of his villagers. He was not blind to the silent ostracizing and scorn that the villagers dealt to the two of them. Yamisuke more so than Naruto due to both his hair-color having somewhat the same color as the Kyūbi's fur, and because of his added reputation of being born from the corpse of his mother. If he ever found out the person responsible for leakeing _that_ particular detail, Hiruzen vowed to execute the person without any hesitation.

Thankfully the village's shinobi stood in an equally silent solidarity behind the two children. Any establishment found to be denying service to the two, or anyone heard of disparaging them in public, soon found themselves losing the patronage of Konoha's shinobi clans. Defending the legacy of their dead leader was one of the few things most of the shinobi agreed upon – even the Uchiha defended the last Uzumakis as much as they could (though Hiruzen had reasons to believe that that had more to do with Mikoto and the elder members' regard for Kushina than any warm feelings harbored for _any_ Hokage). And while they were all circumventing around the law he had set up so that the boy's parentage never got out, Hiruzen allowed them this transgression. He after all didn't execute certain civilian elements for trying to circumvent around his _other_ law for the opposite intentions now, did he?

However, now a few of the boys' more 'enthusiastic' well-wishers were snooping around for information about their current whereabouts. They are growing suspicious after not seeing the two for a while, and Hiruzen best find something on that end to satisfy them before he has a repeat of a loose rampaging Bijū in his village again – this time with the difference of it being a three-tailed turtle.

* * *

Of course the two brothers who were giving the Sandaime an aneurysm, were entirely unaware of what their actions were resulting in. They were currently busy celebrating their Sunday and the exultation of mastering the activation of both the Inton and Yōton. It is as Yamisuke had said – the use of kage bunshin in a resourceful manner is an Uzumaki's ultimate cheat-code.

They have already officially moved in their clan compounds. And also found out that they would be sharing the compounds with other occupants. That had been a surprise – and a big scare. Naruto still denies screaming like a girl while Yamisuke never admitted how close he himself was in following suit. But having a pride of albino sabre-tooth tigers hanging upside down from the ceiling of their new home would perhaps have that effect on anyone.

It had taken a while to figure out that the tigers were part of that which survived the destruction of Uzushiogakure – they were trained Uzumaki summons. Yamisuke also learnt that in this world of crazy, a tiger can in fact learn to talk. The two brothers are now the proud owners of their own tiger cubs. Cubs that have yet to open their eyes – much less can talk. They have been assured that their personal summons _would_ grow up to be as big, strong, powerful and intelligent as the adults of course, but looking at them as they were now, the two brothers found it difficult to believe. As it is, they now remained more in the care of their mother than with the brothers (Yamisuke had a great suspicion that the mother – Kira, was the personal summon of _their_ mother, but chose not to disclose his thoughts at the moment).

The two were now back in their clearing and discussing their training plans for the next day.

"Mastering is still not perfecting," said Yamisuke. "I would still have twenty clones of each of us still practicing how to mold the two chakra types – ten for Inton and ten for Yōton. Also in the last two months our capable-clone count has risen to three-hundred, so we still have a hundred more to put in use. And I would like them all to work out on how to mold a perfect blend of the two chakra natures."

"We can do that?" asked Naruto in shock. "And when will we learn our Hiden jutsu?"

Looking at his brother blankly Yamisuke said, "We would need to know how to manifest our Yin-chakra on the material plane without it dissipating. I'll say that it would still take us a _while_ to do that." Naruto pouted at his brother's response. Yamisuke continued, "The blending, when we manage it, will let us do something super-cool like tapping into the Speed-Force, so don't dish out my ideas yet nii-san."

Needless to say that the incentive worked and Naruto was hooked.

* * *

**_ (Circa 84 A.V.) _ **

**_ Konohagakure no Sato _ **

**_ Four months later… _ **

* * *

"You sure you know what you are doing, right?" Naruto asked. At Yamisuke's determined nod he inquired further, "The loads of concept you made me study – even _I_ can say it is crazy. So how are you so sure that this blend technique would get us what we want when we have yet to make their individual applications? I was not aware we have perfected the individual natures yet – much less their blending."

Sighing a bit Yamisuke said, "We need not perfect the technique for what I have in mind. While perfect mastery of the blended nature types – the **_Omnyōton_** (Ying-Yang Release), would theoretically take this technique to heights supposedly never seen before, the basic ability to harness it is what is required here. The concept is to simply make small things over a period of time, so that when combined they may for a few instants be able to access and perhaps manipulate _the_ Higher energies – especially the fabric of reality. It _will_ however take us a while to create all seven of them, so we would have to wait until they are all done to figure out if this would actually work."

Naruto looked confused though, "How do you know it is _seven_? Or that Inton and Yōton could be blended in the first place – I mean _now_ I know they can, but how did _you_ know about that earlier? Much less how to apply it?"

Looking on blankly Yamisuke said, "Calculation, juxtaposition, theorizing, hypothesizing – you know the like."

Sighing now himself Naruto said, "Honestly brother, I feel sometimes you are an otherworldly know-it-all." At Yamisuke's dry chuckle Naruto harrumphed, "Let us get this over with."

Sitting in lotus position with the palms of both hands clamped against each other, the two brothers simultaneously took a draw of breath. And then they flooded Inton from their left hands and Yōton from their right in an equal proportion – something that took them four months _with_ a hundred clones to achieve (actually they added twenty-five more two months ago when their capable-clones cap got raised again).

Once holding onto the two antagonistic chakra types in each hand, the two visualized their creation (Yamisuke's technically) while tapping into their Jinton so that they could have all their complex thought processes ready and accounted for. Once done on that front, they began to (as Yamisuke had so aptly put it when explaining his crazy plan to Naruto) will their creation to materialize on the material plane all intact.

And then they intoned, " ** _Omnyōton:_ Banbutsu Sōzō no Jutsu." **( _Yin-Yang Style:_ Creation of All Things).

A silver glow enveloped the two brothers before contracting on their heads. It then traveled down from their heads, and at the junction of their shoulder-blades, got divided into two. A purple glow traveled down the left hands before being expelled from the left palm; simultaneously the right palm emanated a red glow. The entire phenomenon took place in a few moments before all the glow died down.

The end result? Both brothers got knocked down before even the glow finished dying – the limiter seals on their person glowed a fiery hot before burning away (the inflicted burn would of course heal away long before they would wake up). And the drain they suffered was heavy enough that neither would wake up before a whopping eighteen hours later on the next morning.

However, went unnoticed by either before they were knocked unconscious, two spherical orbs of a maximum of fifteen centimetres radius, rested in front of the two brothers where there had been nothing before – a bluish-green one before Naruto and a reddish-one in front of Yamisuke. Distinctively a black star was visible from the inside of each orb – to be seen in the exact same shape and position inside the orb no matter the direction or angle it is observed from.

The stars of each orb was also pulsing with a glow as they aligned themselves with the cosmic energies of this Universe. It would be a wonder how such a small object, created by an amateurish attempt at a _theorized_ technique by two toddlers, would go down in history as the firsts of the Elemental Nations fourteen _most_ prized articrafts.

* * *

> **(A/N): And that is a wrap for today. I am starting to wonder if my works are lousy with how many reviews I am getting _after_ begging for negative ones as well. Please tell me _whatever_ you felt reading my works and I will take it as currently I _am_ wondering if I am really wasting my time or not. Hope my followers find this work up to the mark.**

**Signing off,**

**~Ryuukage5400**


	5. The Big Step

**_ (August, 84 A.V.) _ **

**_ Konohagakure no Sato _ **

* * *

"Hey look! Aren't they _those_ children?"

"I wish Hokage-sama would have some consideration for us. What was he thinking letting them roam freely like that?"

"Isn't that redhead one the corpse-born? I pity the mother who died to birth him. He even looks like **_that_**!"

"Their presence – how revolting! Let's leave."

Yamisuke couldn't say he was surprised. In all his previous excursions in the village, he was occupied with other objectives. Usually he ventured at times when the crowds were less. So this was his first time 'facing' Konoha's masses – at least consciously. As much as he wanted to be angry, he decided it was too much of a bother to feel miserable at the negative treatment from those, who were to him basically strangers. He did not, in fact hold them in enough of a regard to care for their opinions. He had other important things to do – like restock their supply of paper and not get overwhelmed by the negative emotions saturated around him.

One good thing to come out of these all, Yamisuke decided, was that somehow his status as a 'corpse-born' and his having red-hair has the effect of essentially directing the lion's share of the villager's hate, disgust fear and scorn towards him. By no means was Naruto's share small, but he was still somewhat shielded in this world behind his brother's more prevalent stigma and distinctive hair-color.

As every good thing must be balanced with an equally bad one however, a Naruto with Jinton enhanced mind-potential is aware enough to detect the negative sentiments of the villagers and has thus started asking questions – with his primary source for answers, in some misguided belief, being his 'super-smart' brother. Well, technically he was not wrong as Yamisuke _did_ know the reason behind the villager's negativity towards them and then some. It seems like he had stalled enough and needed to sit Naruto down soon to share all his 'deductions', decided Yamisuke.

"What do you think you are doing there standing? We do not serve to the likes of _you_ ," came an agitated voice from behind him and Yamisuke was retracing the way to his petrified brother even before the shopkeeper had finished shouting. It seemed that somewhere along the way, Naruto has stalled in front of a bakery and had been looking at the pastries on display until the shopkeeper had come shouting at him.

Taking hold of his brother's shoulder Yamisuke steered him away from where he was rooted at his place, without deigning to give the older man any second thoughts. Naruto followed robotically but soon recovered himself. His expression however remained downtrodden. Sighing, Yamisuke resolved to no longer delay in disclosing _that_ night's secret anymore. Perhaps then his brother would have both the closure from loosing his parents _and_ grow a thick skin against the villager's negativity.

They stopped again at a cross-roads beside the local park where Yamisuke was trying to read all the direction-signs and determine which way would lead to the shinobi market-squares. After having decided upon one he turned back to his brother to inform him of the way they were taking, only to find him staring at a group of boys who were huddled around staring at something in their hands – something that Yamisuke was very sure to be some _archaic_ handheld gaming-consoles.

Suddenly one of the boys noticed them and said in a voice Yamisuke thought was meant to be a whisper, "Look! It is _those_ boys. Kaa-chan has warned me to always steer clear of them."

"Mine as well," said another.

"What do you suppose they are staring at us for?"

"Maybe they want our gaming systems?"

"Well I am not giving _them_ mine. Kaa-chan would be very mad at me if I do."

Yamisuke doubted _kaa-chan's_ approval would have influenced much in the boy's decision with how tightly he was clinging to his 'game-system'. Tugging at his brother's sleeves Yamisuke whispered, "Come on nii-san. It is getting late."

Coming out of his stupor, Naruto nodded and followed after his brother. However, he kept a hold of Yamisuke's hand – clinging at the hand as if afraid that Yamisuke himself would disappear. When Yamisuke squeezed his hand in comfort, Naruto's back straightened a little as his posture grew somewhat confident. He still did not release his hold on Yamisuke's hand however.

* * *

It was another half-hour before the two brothers finally found Higurashi's Ninja-ware Shop.

On opening the door, a bell rang out and a young feminine voice squeaked out, "Welcome to Higurashi's! How can we help you out today?" asked a girl sitting on the counter-top.

Both Yamisuke and Naruto had been startled momentarily in a surprise – Yamisuke for how the girl with the twin-buns hair-style looked familiar, and Naruto because he had been expecting to get shouted at instead of a customary welcome. The girl did not seem much older than themselves, Yamisuke noticed.

A shout _did_ follow next however, but the recipient of the thick voice emanating from inside the shop was not the two brothers. "It is not a grocery store Ten-chan. We do not _welcome_ people here – we simply allow them admittance whether they be shinobi or civilians with delusions. And we most certainly do not _help_ them out – if they do not have an idea of what to buy, they should not enter my shop, period. It is not a garment store to expect assistance while shopping!"

The little girl puffed out her cheeks in indignation, "Be nice tou-chan. Kaa-chan would be very angry otherwise if you keep scaring away our customers!"

"I do not scare away customers," retorted the gruff voice as it neared them. "I simply scare away idiots wasting my time. There is a _big_ difference between the two," and so saying his piece, appeared what seemed to both Yamisuke and Naruto, the largest man they have seen till date in their very short lives. So fascinated was he that Yamisuke almost missed the giant man doing a double-take at seeing them – but rather than starting to shout profanities as is the usual for them, he seemed to get a little lost in his thoughts. Yamisuke's negative-sensing skills detected something for sure – but it seemed more along the lines of reminiscence and nostalgia.

Before the silence could extend and become uncomfortable, Naruto blurted out, "Man! You are _big_ , 'ttebayo!"

Nodding along Yamisuke offered his own two cents, "Indeed! Care to share the secret with us? What did you eat to get here and where can we get some? C'mon ji-san, share it – you cannot keep it all to yourself."

The man, if nothing else, looked amused. The girl – Tenten, snickered at that. Yamisuke relaxed now, knowing that he had made the right decision searching for this shop which is very popular in the Naruto-fanon theory. And if he was reading the signs right, then it seemed that their parents were regular patrons of the shop – one of the main driving factor behind his finding out this shop.

"The usual I guess – ate all my veggies and all," exclaimed the now jovial man in a booming voice. "The name is Higurashi Hakoda and the brat sitting here is my daughter Tenten," the man introduced himself and his daughter. Tenten's response to that was to poke out her tongue at her father. Ignoring his daughter's antics with a smirk Hakoda continued, "So let me guess – paper?" At the two brothers' dumbfounded and a little hesitant nod Hakoda said, "That's about all what your clansmen order in bulk." Smiling devilishly then, Hakoda declared, "The current rate is at a hundred ryōs per kilogram."

 _That_ managed to break Yamisuke's restraint. Puffing out his cheeks indignantly he issued his war-cry, "What! That is highway robbery! I am not spending anything more than thirty ryōs for a kilogram."

Hakoda did not waste a second to flare his own nostrils and rise up to the issued challenge. He was young when he dealt with the child's predecessor, but in no way at his age was he going to lose this dance to her son, especially with his daughter to witness. He has a reputation to maintain after all. "Oh no, no, no, no, _no_! I will not lower it to anywhere less than ninety-five ryōs you punk!"

Bristling like an offended cat Yamisuke jumped on the counter-pane to get level in height with his opponent – he failed to reach anywhere higher than Hakoda's chest. "Thirty-five ryōs and it comes with a five kilometre long spool of ninja-wire at a rate of twenty ryōs per kilometre."

Leaning down to reach the boy's eye-level Hakoda grounded out, "Eighty ryōs for a kilogram of paper and ten kilometres of wire at seventy-five ryōs per kilometre."

Growling in rage Yamisuke counter-offered, "Forty-five ryōs per kilogram and thirty-five ryōs per kilometre. I will take a hundred kilograms so deal accordingly."

Equally agitated, Hakoda now dealt, "Sixty-five ryōs for both a kilogram and a kilometre."

Slamming his fist on the counter-top Yamisuke declared, "Twenty kilograms of paper at a rate of fifty ryōs per kilogram and two spools of ten kilometres long ninja-wire at fifty ryōs per kilometre. The five thousand ryōs fee for a D-rank home delivery will be paid up-front. It will be a monthly thing and we _will_ pay you in advance. That there is my final deal. Take it, or leave it!"

Having said as such, both contestants now entered into an intense staring contest – their faces set in similar expressions of agitation as sparks flew between their eyes.

And suddenly as if a switch had been flicked, Hakoda smiled genially and said, "Where should the delivery address be?"

Yamisuke returned his enthusiasm with a grin as he replied, "The postal area of the Uzumaki district, sector-two." And saying so he produced a regular sealing scroll to the older man. At his questioning look Yamisuke answered, "Your payment. A grand total of sixteen thousand ryōs."

Hakoda straight away ignored how the boy was in the possession of a sealing-scroll, and neither did he wonder since when had the child and his brother been living in the Uzumaki district. No, his good mood was soured instead at the redhead brat's barely concealed smirk. He slowly realized that he had been played into selling his wares at a price the boy had clearly planned from before. And despite suffering no losses, he felt offended for not having succeeded at bleeding the child's pockets even a little. With a huff he snatched the scroll away. The brat was seriously reminding him of his equally infuriating mother – and he was not reminding him of _her_ in a good way. "You will get your delivery by tomorrow afternoon at the latest."

Suddenly remembering about the other two occupants of the room the two of them turned to their respective charges simultaneously. And then they blinked owlishly. Naruto and Tenten were at a safe distance, clinging at each other as they stared at their brother and father respectively in a wary manner. Finally Tenten spoke, "Are you two done with being angry and scary?"

* * *

It generated an odd look from Hakoda when Yamisuke asked the directions to a particular ramen-stand before parting. And while not as surprised as Yamisuke expected him to be, he was confused all the same at how Yamisuke himself came to know about it. He still gave away the directions, which is how the two brothers can now be found at Ichiraku's ramen-stand devouring away from their bowls. Yamisuke knew not how it came to be, but the steamy broth-filled meal _was_ delicious – especially the one with chicken and golden broth. Naruto has sworn his allegiance to miso however.

He had noticed the previous occupants leaving as soon as the two had entered the ramen-stand and yet the man behind the counter did not bat an eye at his loss of revenue. His daughter, though a little bewildered at first, followed her father's steps and tried making them as much comfortable as possible. Soon she was engaging Naruto in a lively conversation that his brother was more than eager to participate in. Yamisuke could see his brother's previously diminished self-esteem rising exponentially from the first positive attitude coming from someone that was not his brother. He can also notice that Naruto was touched by the girl's gesture.

Looking at the man – Teuchi as he had introduced himself and his daughter as Ayame, who was now stirring a pot of broth on an oven, Yamisuke spoke in a low voice that would not be heard by the other two, "I know not for whatever reason, but it is clear that my brother and I do not garner the best of the attitude from the society around us. So knowing that, why do you not treat us the same Teuchi ji-san?" And it has been something from the canon that has bugged Yamisuke a lot – what exactly made Teuchi and Ayame, two civilians, so different from the other villagers?

The man kept stirring at his pot silently and Yamisuke absently heard Naruto recount their experience at Higurashi's to Ayame. For a while Yamisuke thought that the man would not answer him – or perhaps he had not heard Yamisuke in the first place; but then he spoke suddenly, "And does others doing something – which I specifically _know_ to be wrong, justify my taking part in it while sacrificing my conscience? Sorry, but no sorry. The perspective of the greater whole of a community is not reason enough for myself to give up on my ideals and participate with them in ostracizing a minority due to prevalent prejudices. That is not me kid. Now, enough about that. What say you to another bowl if you liked yours previous one so much, eh?"

Yamisuke couldn't help but look at the man in awe – he along with his daughter are among the very few people who have went against the community's prejudiced views and have helped Naruto at his lowest in both the canon and in here (with perhaps Yamisuke himself as well this time), for no apparent agenda at all and without expecting anything in return. It definitely takes a special brand of bravery lacked by many - even a considerable number of shinobi. The man now had Yamisuke's eternal gratitude – something he vowed to pay back one day without failing.

For now he simply gave the older man his assent with a grin, "Hai!"

* * *

Naruto's emotions are spiking – a clear sign of his bubbling agitation, Yamisuke deduced. It was almost evening now and the brothers have long sine returned from their excursion inside the village.

Seeing his brother staring at his tome listlessly, Yamisuke heaved a sigh and asked, "What has gotten you so glum nii-san? Do not bother denying it – you _know_ I am speaking the truth."

Naruto hesitated for a moment before lifting his gaze and fixating his attention on his brother with an intense look sparking in his blue eyes, "Why do everyone seem to despise us?"

Yamisuke looked pensive for a moment before nodding to himself once and retrieving a booklet which he slid over to Naruto. It was actually a bundle of pages Naruto has seen his brother working on that day after returning from their impromptu outing. He also noted absently that they were now bound together by a thin string.

Looking up from the thin booklet Naruto asked, "What is this for?" For some reason he knew that the content of this booklet is forever going to change his view of the world as he knew it, and that thought alone filled him with apprehension.

Looking at his brother seriously Yamisuke replied, "The answer to all the questions you want to ask about, and then some. They are however still theories only nii-san, so do take them with a grain of salt."

Naruto had to snort at that. In the short time since he had met him and gotten to know him, he had learnt that that rarely if ever is his brother wrong in his deductions, theories or what he likes to call hypothesis. The speed-force, all their knowledge and current ability on omnyōton and the seven gradually starred orbs that they had yet to use are all some of the notable proofs of that. Ignoring his brother's curious look, he took the time to look at the booklet that he was sure contained all his answers. It has to if his brother believes as such.

Finally he looked back up and locked gazes with his brother, "I do not doubt your deductions to be anything less than the truth and I will endeavor to go through the entire booklet in detail at a later time. However right now, I want _you_ to tell me – in brief if you must, the answer to my questions."

Both impressed at his brother's increasing maturity and touched at his faith on him, Yamisuke offered a small smile and said, "Very well then." He then sat down facing his brother. Taking a deep breath he started, "My search started when I was sorting through the contents of one of the three vaults under the Hall of Texts. It was the oldest of the three and under the ownership of someone named Uzumaki Mitō. Amongst all that was in that vault, was a journal. Shifting through it a light pace had her revealed to be the wife of the Shōdai Hokage. There was one word however that I came across with an increasing frequency – a Jinchūriki. This is where my curiosity arose and I thus started my investigation.

"The word confused me at the beginning – it was from an ancient script, I had learnt later when mentioned in one of her entries and that it roughly translates into 'power of the human-sacrifice'. I have went through her journal two times under the Jinton and came across two entries that I have noted down on the first two pages of the booklet. The first entry is about her role in the final clash between Senju Hashirama and some powerful traitor Uchiha named Madara. The latter had under his control a large colossal nine-tailed beast that had the appearance of a fox – Mitō-sama however classifies it as a bijū. She had subdued it and had sealed said bijū inside of herself – thus becoming the first Jinchūriki.

"The second entry I have noted down is about forty-six years later in **62 A.V.** Here she explains about passing on her 'burden' to a clansmen who is also apparently her distant descendant – a great-grand daughter in fact. Coincidentally who she passes her 'burden' to – which I am assuming to be the fox-bijū, is also the owner of the second vault. She goes by the name of Uzumaki Kushina and in her entry Mito-sama mentions that she is glad that Kushina is getting along with 'the Namikaze child'.

"And well, who do I find the third vault belonging to? A non-Uzumaki by the name of Namikaze Minato. A lot about such an occurrence had baffled me – until I found in the Hall's logbook, that a non-clan member can get partial access to the temple through ties of marriage and can thus build themselves a secured vault. Not much other than scrolls, equipment and articrafts exist in these two vaults but the fact that this Kushina-san is the only Uzumaki to hold possession over a vault here, barring Mitō-sama, hints to the fact that she was the last Uzumaki in the village before us. Which would have to make Minato-san her husband in order to go through some blood-seals to acquire a vault in the Hall.

"However I was still missing a key-piece. What happened to them? And I found an answer to that this afternoon, in a poster of all things." Here Yamisuke paused a little and said to his enraptured brother, "You might want to refer to said poster on page three."

Though confused, Naruto followed the advice and came across the poster. It had on it a man that seemed somewhat familiar. He had long blond hair with two bangs curtaining around his face, and a pair of intense aqua blue eyes.

"That there is the Yondaime Hokage," supplied Yamisuke helpfully and Naruto's eyes widened. Of course it was him. The man's resemblance to the fourth stone-face carving on the mountain-side, he noticed now, was uncanny.

Nodding, Yamisuke dropped another bombshell, "His name is apparently Namikaze Minato and the poster is for the festival celebrated to honor his triumphing over the nine-tailed fox." Seeing his brother's bewildered look Yamisuke explained, "No, I have not botched up the time-lines. Apparently Mitō-sama's Jinchūriki status was a top priority secret and so was Kushina-san's status supposed to remain – or so Mitō-sama believed at least. Thus it seems that rather than the Kyūbi attacking the village suddenly – as is believed by the unassuming and oblivious masses, a third-party accomplice seems to have forced its extraction instead, right at the of the village.

"My hypothesis of the involvement of a third-party accomplice comes from the following facts. The festival and our birthdays – as revealed by our 'caretakers', coincide with each other. It means that on the day of our birth to the then last Uzumaki – Kushina-san, the Kyūbi was forcefully extracted from her and left to go on a rampage across the village. Her husband – thus our father, who looks too much like you for him to not be the Yondaime, fought the bijū and somehow sealed it away in two parts in the each of us; which in turn makes us the current jinchurikis of the fox – thus the majority of the village's scorn and ostracizing of us. Somewhere in the process, for some reason that escapes me, our parents were probably martyred," finished Yamisuke.

Naruto truly looked overwhelmed at the information dumped on him by his brother. He kept looking at the image of the man his brother claimed to be his father. He did not doubt Yamisuke – if his search has lead to this conclusion, it was then obviously the truth or the closest to it. And the man _did_ look very similar to himself – the same blue eyes and the exact shade of sunny-blond hair being the most obvious. These two features were something that he had noticed in his very own reflection more than often enough to mistake it. And looking closely many of Yamisuke's sharp features were also similar to the man's – though without the roundness that his brother claimed to be baby-fat.

But his brother's theory raised a very serious question, "How could tou-chan seal away the Kyūbi in our guts knowing we would be hated," he wondered despondently and a touch bitterly.

"He could not predict that we would be receiving such treatment though," Yamisuke pointed out. At his brother's confused expression he explained, "The previous two Jinchūrikis had their statuses kept secret, were ambassadors from a respected village, wives to the Hokage of their time, the strongest kunoichis of their generations _and_ members to one of Konoha's three founding clans. The entire ordeal with the kyūbi on the day of our birth occurred probably in a few hours' time. After going through that and with his death imminent, I think we can cut our old man some slack for not thinking about the possibility of the villagers' negative treatment towards his children, eh?"

Naruto thought this through for a while before wondering glumly, "So I _am_ a demon, eh? Or its jailer? The villagers were then right after all. Perhaps I may be am a monster as well."

"And is that your undisputed and final opinion then brother?" said Yamisuke a touch coldly. Naruto was shocked both at Yamisuke's tone and his not addressing him as 'nii-san' for the first time since they had met. His brother had his back to him now; the shadows from where the candle's light cannot reach casting a curtain of darkness over his face.

"The villagers also call me a corpse-born," continued Yamisuke emotionlessly and Naruto flinched. He had forgotten for a moment that between the two of them it was his brother who faced the greater share of the villager's scorn. "Most probably our parents did not even know of my existence. They say I killed kaa-chan to come to this world. If you accept their tag of a monster, then perhaps I was _born_ a monster, eh?"

Slamming his hands on the desk loudly Naruto shouted angrily, "You are _no_ monster! You are _my_ brother – and the most intelligent person I know 'ttebayo. Anyone saying otherwise can go hang themselves!"

Looking at his brother side-ways with a now softened expression (which Naruto wouldn't admit, but helped him relax greatly), Yamisuke said "So why do you consider yourself one based upon the villager's words?"

Nodding vigorously Naruto declared, "You are right! The villager's opinion does not matter. I have got you. Just you wait and watch Yami. I will revenge upon them with pranks that will make them rue ever offending us, dattebayo!"

Chuckling a bit now Yamisuke said, "Funny as hell though it will be to watch, I have a better idea for revenge."

"What is it?" asked Naruto eagerly. His brother's ideas _always_ rocks.

Looking out an adjacent window where it was raining now Yamisuke said, "These villagers have already judged us to be lost cause – they think we will never much amount to anything. I believe the best revenge in this case will be to prove them wrong. Grow powerful and strong enough that one day _they_ would come to us for aid – and we will have the power to act magnanimous that day."

With a frown Naruto said, "I do not think we are talking about the same things here Yami. That feels an awful lot like forgiving the village and forgetting everything."

Yamisuke smiled, "It is my opinion that we tend to hate those mostly from whom we expect love. The villagers though unfair in their treatment towards us, how they act in itself is not very surprising or unexpected. A colossal creature that they have witnessed causing destruction, to be sealed away in something or somebody – the urge to create distance from the container later is understandable if unfair. Nii-san I am not asking you to forget what they are doing – that will help no one. What I ask instead is for you to try and understand their plight, comprehend where they are coming from – and once you do, I want you to find it in yourself to try and forgive them. It may be my biased opinion and perhaps even not always true – but I truly believe that there is nothing more difficult than to forgive another , and there is no greater power than love."

Naruto listened to his brother with rapt attention. He thought about what all Yamisuke had said and slowly nodded with a smile, "That is perhaps the best way to go about it." Slowly he joined his brother in gazing at the outside. The part of the Naka River visible through the forest in the fading sunlight, looked beautiful even with the rain pouring over it. After a pregnant pause Naruto confessed, "It still seems mighty hard though."

Nodding seriously Yamisuke said, "Between the easy way and the hard, you will find the former bearing instant satisfaction with heavy consequences; while the hard way – if you can overcome all the challenges and difficulties it deals you, will bear you a longer-lasting satisfaction with sweeter fruits. Remember that for all that the villagers did, the village itself has given us food, protection, shelter and even the means to find each other. Though never a replacement, the village is the closest we have to a mother at present. And we should be grateful to her."

Naruto nodded but did not offer anymore on that topic. The comparison of Konoha to their mother – Uzumaki Kushina, Naruto was sure now (and he couldn't get enough of chanting that name) – appealed to him on a spiritual level however. He agreed with his brother on that front. Konoha is their mother and thus deserves their love and respect. He still had one question however, "So should we be hating the fox? The third-party accomplice perhaps?"

"As a proud colossal beast imprisoned for close to three quarters of a century, the fox did nothing that was not expected of him. I understand where the Shōdai comes from – the prospect of another controlling such a beast like Madara had done for causing wanton destruction, was at that time a valid enough reason to seal it. Frankly, the third-party is the only one we could legitimately hate. However I don't see why we _should_ though," confessed Yamisuke

Surprising Yamisuke Naruto nodded his assent to that, "Yes, you are right brother. The accomplice is not worth our hatred. And as for the fox – it has probably more reason to hate _us_ than the villagers do. Doesn't mean we cannot try to prove all of them wrong and get them all to like us, eh? The way of hatred will not be our way, dattebayo!"

Yamisuke was impressed. Yes his brother _would_ go on to do all of that – he was very sure of it. Offering a dazzling smile he said, "That being said however, I declare that the Uzumaki way _will_ involve beating the crap out of our enemies – repeatedly if needs must – to make them see things our way, dattebayo!"

Laughing outright Naruto declared, "Now _that_ is something I can very readily get behind."

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen was a man on mission. He _will_ meet his charges today come hell or high water. The news of their current living habitat has finally made it to the concerned parties – frankly he was amazed and a tad bit proud at himself that this development had remained a secret for so long – and it has been explicitly made clear to him that his life (along with his man-hood, porn stash, expensive liquor stash and general pride altogether) was on very thin ice. He has received the message loud and clear and has thus endeavored to dismiss himself from his duties early to take an evening stroll along the banks of the Naka River on the eastern edge of the Uzumaki District. He had been stalled enough and is in need of a talk with his charges that he believed is now long over-due.

His ANBU has reported of spotting the two brothers setting up fishing lines along these banks today and previous intel have hinted at their retrieving of their captured haul at dusk before feasting on them. This was apparently a ritual they have kept to on every Sunday for the last few months.

It did not take him long to find the two – made easier by the blazing fire that was emanating from under two grills. And sitting near the two active grills were his charges – each tending to a grill. As he neared, his presence became known long before he had reached them – a time that the two children used to assess him with identical curious expressions.

Once within the hearing range however it was not him who started dialogue but the blond child Naruto, "So _he_ is the village's big boss? Huh, I had thought his face will be shrouded in shadows, from where eyes with burning fire will be looking out into the world – instead he is wearing a funny hat!"

Yamisuke and Hiruzen both stared at the blond before the former said, "I am relieved that we are not born in the Mist. Saying that the Mizukage has 'watery-eyes' to his face would have ensured the both of us getting a public execution what with the village's fondness of the name 'Bloody mist'." Shaking his head he turned back to the clearly smiling and amused old man. "Please do not feel offended by my brother's words jī-san. He means well. I am Uzumaki Yamisuke and this here is my aniki, Uzumaki Naruto. But more on that later. Can we offer you dinner? We seem to have a little more than what we need apparently."

Chuckling still Hiruzen took a seat on a nearby rocky elevation and said, "Indeed I find myself hungry. I thank you both for your offer and accept your invitation delightfully. My name is Sarutobi Hiruzen and I am, as you both seem to very well know, the Sandaime Hokage."

As Sarutobi settled down, the two brothers went on to fix themselves with the cooked dinner – grilled beef and fish with some seasonings they had prepared earlier, lemon-coated onions with a dust of pepper and some hot-sauce. So the reports of their occasional marketing under a henge was true. It seems they indeed were learning something from their clan's resources pooled in this district. He did not know when or how they had activated their chakra but the both of them seem to have a grasp on the illusion technique that was not seen often in children not yet four. And while using henge to go for shopping was not exactly legal, he did not raise any fuss over something so trivial that hurts no one. Sometimes it pays to be the absolute dictator of the land – answerable to no one.

By the time he was handed over his dinner, Hiruzen had to admit that they had done a very good job of it – the meal looked promising and smelled a lot better than anything he could prepare himself.

Before eating he noticed the two children closing their eyes in a prayer and despite not being very religious himself, he respected his hosts by waiting with them. And then with a loud "Itadakimatsu!" they fell upon their respective meals. Hiruzen revised his previous opinion – the food _is_ delicious. It was stimulating his taste-buds that have long remained inert. Absently he noted the next batch of fish and meat being cooked on the oven and the sheer volume of the still uncooked ones – ah, the infamous Uzumaki appetite.

"The food, I have to say is delicious," offered Hiruzen with a smile and the two children glowed at the praise even as they offered their thanks. Hiruzen was reminded that with the life they led, the praise from him may as well have been the first praise they had ever received from an adult.

Meanwhile Naruto kept looking at the 'funny' hat sitting on the old man's head. Finally not being able to restrain himself any longer he asked, "So jī-san, Yami says that you are the most powerful boss of the village. Is that true?"

Looking at the blond boy Hiruzen said amusedly, "Perhaps I am Naruto-kun. You see this 'funny' hat I wear marks me as the tree on which this entire village relies upon."

While Naruto looked to be in awe Yamisuke looked confused, "Did you just say that you are indirectly the entire village's servant? In that case you have my condolences jī-san."

Hiruzen chuckled good-naturedly. The redhead was very perceptive – reminding Hiruzen a lot of the boy's father and surprisingly Itachi. "Yes I am perhaps the village's most vital and glorified servant, but you need not feel sorry for me Yami-kun. I love my village and I am very content with my position and role in the great-tree."

Naruto asked in surprise, "And you are still the most respected man of the village?"

Hiruzen nodded with a smile, "I am."

Looking at him speculatively Naruto remained silent for a moment – a silence where Yamisuke filled everyone's now empty plates for a second-serving. Blowing over his hot meal to cool it down a little Naruto wondered, "Do you think I can become the Hokage jī-san?"

With a proud nod Hiruzen said, "I believe that anyone with the right drive, determination to back-up said drive and most importantly adhering to the Will of Fire can become the Hokage." Seeing the children's confused looks he explained before they could ask, "The Will of Fire was the idea preached by our Shōdai Hokage – it explains that to be a good shinobi you must love your village; to do that you must be beholden to some reason that guides your life as a shinobi – a reason that would remind you in your darkest hour what you are fighting for; and finally the will preaches that the true kings of every civilization is its upcoming generation – the ones who will carry their forefather's wills, ideals and memories and thus keep their ancestors alive through themselves; thus they should be protected and treasured above all costs."

By the time he finished, he found both the children looking at him in an awe-filled reverence. Passing on the teachings of the Will of Fire to the next generation was something Hiruzen always enjoyed. He had himself been bequeathed of it by the Shōdai. This act of passing on Hashirama-sensei's will to the next generation is in itself a major part of the Will of Fire.

Naruto beamed, "So I _can_ become the Hokage one day?"

Nodding Hiruzen replied, "Yes! Yes I believe you can Naruto-kun."

Even as the blond looked ecstatic, Yamisuke however looked unconvinced. "Don't be so happy yet nii-san. Jī-san is obviously not telling you the whole thing. I don't buy it that he is all that he claims to be, without suffering from _some_ drawbacks." Looking at the now surprised older man he asked, "It seems to me that your job is a _very_ time-consuming one. Tell me do you have a family?" Hiruzen, though caught off-guard by the sudden offensive, still knew where the child was going with this. He also knew that answering truthfully won't help his cause, but he was intrigued now. So despite his common sense saying otherwise he gave a nod, however reluctantly. "And how do _they_ feel about your choice of profession?"

Though knowing that his answer would not endear the position of Hokage to Naruto, Hiruzen thought that perhaps he was in the wrong here, to prey on an impressionable mind who wouldn't know any better, in order to sow the seeds of the position of Hokage that might one day yield a worthy successor. Heaving a sigh he said reluctantly, "I do not regret my decisions to serve the village and despite the time-constraints, my family understands where I come from. That being said however, I must admit that the relationship between my son and myself is not where I want it to be."

His confession served the purpose of conflicting Naruto and turning the surrounding atmosphere a little somber. Yamisuke took the time to quickly refill their meals and load the fourth batch on the oven. While chewing on the sides of his smoking hot meat Naruto wondered, "So if I do not settle down, do I have a better chance at becoming the Hokage without hurting anyone?"

Even before Hiruzen could say something to that Yamisuke exclaimed, startling Naruto in the process. "Do not be absurd nii-san. As orphans it is our _dream_ to have a family to call our own someday. I am your brother and would always love you no matter what, but I cannot give _you_ what you other half can – I cannot be bestowed upon the entire weight of your legacy as you could to _your_ children. And despite the lures and _anyone_ saying otherwise, nothing can replace the warmth of a home where your other half would be waiting for you after an exhausting day at work. Nothing can replace the joy you would feel when teaching all you know to _your_ children nor the pride you will feel when they master all you teach them. These are all very precious things to be treasured nii-san, not sacrificed!"

"And how would _you_ know of all these Yami," asked Naruto in bewilderment. Though not voicing it, Hiruzen was curious himself. The boy is an orphan and has yet to reach the age of four – and he still possessed the knowledge of a married person content with their life.

"I have read the journals of Mitō-sama and they had let me have a glimpse at the life we can have. To an orphan like myself, her life seemed very beautiful despite all the struggles that she had endured," said Yamisuke quietly as he now stared at the dancing flames. It took Hiruzen a moment to understand the implications and consequences of what the boy said. _Mitō_ -sama's diary? What _exactly_ does the Uzumakis have kept under their temple?

Yamisuke broke the silence then. Even while looking at the flames he addressed his brother, "I did not bring up the drawbacks that the position of Hokage carry to deter you from pursuing you dreams nii-san. Instead I want you to be aware of exactly what you are entering yourself into. If you feel that I am discouraging you of trying to become Hokage or worse, discouraging you to have a family while pursuing the former, it was never my intention. You will _always_ have my unanimous support in the choices you make. Still you have now in front of you someone who has had a family and is still a Hokage and my intention is for you to know everything you would need to thrive in both the possible aspects of your life – I want you to succeed where others have failed. After all, choosing between two and giving up on anything are neither the Uzumaki way."

Hiruzen couldn't help but smile at that. The child has a wisdom that he would have expected of the Shōdai and still possesses a cynicism reminiscent of the Nidaime – both great men in their own rights if different views on life. The bond and love that these two children showed for each other is already very strong indeed, he noted.

Now beaming again Naruto exclaimed, "You are right Yami! If it is a problem, then I must tackle it head-on and learn how to deal with them both!" Hiruzen agreed with the sentiment of both the boys. "After all," continued Naruto, "I am damn sure tou-chan would have done that already as the Yondaime, had he gotten the chance to."

It was a good thing that Hiruzen was not eating anything at that particular moment – he would have spat it out had that been so. "Where did you get the idea that the Yondaime is your father Naruto-kun?" despite trying to be nonchalant about it he did not know how well he managed it. He is glad now that all he has brought as his guards today are 'in-the-know'.

Both brothers now looked at Hiruzen dumbly. Naruto spoke slowly, "You mean you do not know about that? From the poster we managed to get our hands on, the man has the _exact_ hair and eye-color as mine and his face resemble Yami's a lot. He also apparently has a vault under our clan-temple, right beside who we believe is our other – Uzumaki Kushina."

Yamisuke then said to his brother, "I don't think he is unaware of all those nii-san. It seems he is more surprised with our knowledge of everything that we have deduced. Perhaps our parentage was a secret?"

Blinking owlishly Naruto exclaimed, "Don't be absurd brother! Now you will be telling me that your theory of us being this generation's Kyūbi Jinchūriki is a top secret is true as well, huh?"

Having just recovered his composure Hiruzen did not bother himself with getting surprised by the second bombshell dropped on him by the oblivious blond. Instead he said blankly, "It _is_ supposed to be a top-level secret." He knew he could have tried then to stall or deflect the truth – but in hindsight it does not seem to be the right course of action anymore. Especially when the ruse is up already (unintentional though as it may be) and all such actions would now lead to further mistrust (if they could be convinced otherwise at all in the first place).

"Well," said Yamisuke finally after another pause. "You are doing a very good job at hiding the former in the shadows of the latter. Till this day we thought that our negative treatment was inflicted despite others knowing of our parentage. It is a comfort to know that that is not the case. Can we know why exactly our parentage is a secret though?"

Hiruzen heaved a sigh. The evening was _not_ going how he had envisioned it. He definitely didn't think earlier that day that he will be discussing the village's biggest secrets on the banks of the Naka River with two children just shy of the age of four, while eating grilled fish and steaks. But that is the life of a shinobi for you – you cannot predict them all. To think nothing of what he would have to deal with after this with the boy's 'well-wishers'. He opted to continue with the truth now; being in the possession of the knowledge of their parentage without knowing _why_ it is a secret, is a very good recipe for disaster. First though he had to ask, "Did you two share your findings with _anybody_ else?"

"Apart from you, no one," replied Naruto seriously.

Hiruzen nodded in relief. "That is indeed comforting," said he, "You see children, your parents had both played some vital roles in the last war and neither had bothered much at the time to exactly hide their identities. In short they made for themselves a lot of enemies – enemies who would not hesitate to come after you two if both your existence as your parents' children get disclosed. It is thereby imperative that you two do not _ever_ disclose your parentage without my express permission. Can you two promise me that?"

Both the brothers looked at each other and seemed to communicate in some secret language of their own. Finally they both nodded simultaneously and said in a perfect sync, "We can promise that."

Naruto then retrieved a booklet from under his shirt and handed it over to Hiruzen.

"What is this?" asked Hiruzen curiously.

"All the knowledge on how Yamisuke came to his deductions. He had it prepared for my benefit. I had it finished for a while now. With how serious an issue you claim our parentage is, I think we both agree that this would remain safer under your supervision," said Naruto.

Hiruzen was touched at the trust they placed on him and resolved to do their trust justice. He secured the booklet under his sleeves to pursue later. Nodding appreciatively he said, "That is very mature of you both and I cannot thank you two enough for that."

Hesitating a little Yamisuke said, "Jī-san… they all call me corpse-born." Hiruzen's temper flared like never before. He had never before been more ashamed of his villagers than at the current moment hearing a child of his village say that. "Did my parents even knew of my existence?"

Hiruzen could feel the weight of a multitude of eyes burning at his back even as he floundered for an answer. He finally decided to continue with today's tradition of being honest. So he found himself admitting, "No they did not." Yamisuke looked truly downcast at that and Hiruzen's heart went to the boy – life had truly dealt him a hard one. Even as he saw Naruto squeezing his brother's shoulder in comfort he felt the burning gazes behind his back intensifying. He thus hurried to continue, "But that does not change the fact that they would have loved you more than anything else. The burden that you both carry is the sign of love and trust that your parents entrusted upon you both before drawing their dying breaths. You should never forget that every moment you live it is due to the love and sacrifice of your parents. So it matters very little in the end if they knew you or not Yami-kun, you and your brother had been gifted this incredible chance at life due to them. The least you can do to honor and thank their love and sacrifice is to cherish every moment of your life to the fullest. Know that, even in death, they lives on in you."

Both Naruto and Yamisuke looked at the older man with wide glistening eyes as they soaked up on all that the older man offered to tell them of their parents. His words were serving to fill the holes in their heart that had remained devoid of parental love. The words was now getting them the closure that learning the truths didn't provide them with.

Finally Yamisuke smiled and said, "Arigatou Jī-san. We will forever be grateful to you of this." Naruto nodded his sentiments – too emotional to be capable of forming words.

Hiruzen nodded. Truthfully what he was doing was the least he could have done for these two. Perhaps it is time now that he start taking a more active role in the life of his village's 'assets'.

Another silence filled the clearing – this time though it was not uncomfortable. Yamisuke broke the silence this time as he stared above at the clear night sky – the first in a while after a series of days filled with rain. "What do you reckon the stars are Jī-san?" wondered the redhead Uzumaki.

Hiruzen, though caught off-guard at the sudden tangent, recovered admirably soon. He had a lot of experience dealing with Uzumakis after all and frankly after these many weighted revelations in a single evening, he welcomed the change in topic. Declining a fourth serving of the meal, he retrieved his smoking-pipe even as he watched the two siblings descend upon their fourth-serving as any healthy and growing member of their clan would. He lit his pipe and took a long satisfying drag before answering the redhead's question, "Well Yami-kun, they say that the stars are glowing orbs that are apparently worlds onto their own. And that there are many suns and moons among them as well. But nobody has ever found out the exact truth about it yet."

Nodding contemplatively Yamisuke said, "Then I promise you that we will find that out one day for sure. I will even take you on the maiden voyage of my ship if you are up for it Jī-san."

Hiruzen laughed outright at the outrageous and yet adorable claims of the child – well he was comforted to know that despite having the mind and wisdom of a man thrice his age, there still remains a boy in there somewhere.

"He is not kidding, you know? I do not often find him wrong or making claims he cannot perform on, dattebayo," Naruto warned the old man while at the same time trying to defend his brother.

Chuckling still Hiruzen said, "I do not doubt that. But perhaps before reaching the stars you should attempt to reach Konoha's sky-line Yami-kun."

With fire now blazing in his eyes Yamisuke declared, "I will do you one better. I will **_redefine_** Konoha's sky-line."

"Now you have done it," complained Naruto – perhaps the only one there who knew what his brother is capable of when driven to prove something.

Hiruzen simply laughed.

.

.

.

He will regret doing that a few days later.

* * *

"So lets see now whether this will work or not, eh?" said Naruto with a grin as he beheld in front of himself his collection of the seven bluish-green orbs starred differently from a single star to seven. And they were all pulsing now – a sign that Yamisuke told him to recognize as the orbs aligning themselves with the frame of reality. A totally identical set of seven reddish-orange orbs sat in a cluster in front of Yamisuke as well, as he stood beside his brother.

An excitement similar to the day they had tapped into the speed-force filled their beings. They were both excited about what the end-result today will be.

"Lets begin," Yamisuke declared. Naruto couldn't agree more. "You can go first this time nii-san," offered Yamisuke.

"Hey, thanks brother," cheered Naruto excitedly before he faced his orbs. Taking a moment to intake a deep breath and collect himself, Naruto then intoned in high Uzuspeech, **_"Come forth Porunga! I summon onto thee to grant me my three wishes!"_**

Almost nothing happened for a moment, before suddenly the seven orbs in front of Naruto glowed and in the next moment a miniature green dragon materialized while hovering over the orbs. Unlike traditional dragons however this dragon had a bulky humanoid upper-body and had amphibian-like features more than reptilian ones – in other words the perfect replica of Porunga from the Dragon Ball Z verse. Yamisuke theorized that the eternal dragon would grow up in the traditional sense by feeding on the veins of the reality plane until it was finally of continental dimensions. As it was now however, it was infantile and the wishes asked of it needed to be explained to it very carefully in order to prevent any mishaps.

Still however the two brothers' joy could not be contained. Centering himself now Yamisuke found himself intoning next, **_"Come forth Shenron! I summon onto thee to grant me my three wishes!"_**

The process repeated itself and before long, a miniature serpentine green eastern dragon was hovering over Yamisuke's set of orbs.

"It worked," cheered Naruto.

"Yes it did," Yamisuke agreed. "But let us not tarry, lest they loose all charge and dissipate before we are finished, eh?"

Naruto agreed with a nod. It had been decided that for this first time, Yamisuke would ask for all the six wishes. Naruto could get behind that – his brother always had the best laid-out plans after all.

Stepping up in front of Shenron, Yamisuke addressed his dragon first in high Uzuspeeh, **_"For my first wish of you Shenron, I ask of you to make it happen that both of us brothers are given inheritable Saiyan powers, features and potential without altering our external morphology – sans the tail, chakra and genetic make-up."_**

Yamisuke did not expect the dragon to speak – it was still infantile after all, being only a few minutes old. All the same, it understood what he intoned and accepted his wish with a glow of its red eyes,

Instantly a pain like nothing other filled the entire beings of both Naruto and Yamisuke as their physique started adjusting as per the wish asked of the dragon. Their agonized screams echoed throughout the clearing of sector-four – an ideal place facing away from all clan-compounds. They have chosen this area so that no one could get an inkling of what they were actually doing here. The pain stopped as quickly as it had come.

"Did it work – whatever it was?" asked Naruto in a gasping voice from where he was laid on the ground.

"Look for yourself," despite the weakness in his voice, Naruto could detect Yamisuke's glee in it as well – for him that was a good enough sign.

Looking up he was astonished to find a thick furry brown tail protruding from his brother's back. Looking behind himself he found an identical one attached to his back as well.

"Sweet! It works," Naruto exclaimed in joy. Yamisuke simply smirked in anticipation – too tired to do otherwise. This world _definitely_ won't know what hit them.

.

.

.

And Jī-san would have his Konohan sky-line redefined _much_ earlier than he would have expected – if he had ever expected it at all.

* * *

> **(A/N): I have to say that I am really proud of this one – it's the longest as well. Please review what you think of it.**

**Signing off,**

**~Ryuukage5400**


	6. The Legacy of the Whirling Tides

**_ (September 84 A.V.) _ **

**_ Konohagakure no Sato _ **

* * *

Standing on the balcony attached to the Hokage administrative building, one Sarutobi Hiruzen could be found looking out at his beloved village. A village for which he had lost blood, sweat and tears for almost the entirety of his life. A village for which he had fought in three world wars and lead through two of them. A village that despite the many faults of its inhabitants, he loved like no other.

Since when he had been enlisted as part of team Tobirama, Hiruzen had been made to commit to a strict disciplinarian schedule under the man who would go on to become the Nidaime Hokage. The remnants of that part of his life still accompanied him to this day. Hence, a day where he woke up after sunrise is a very rare event. Hiruzen did not enjoy many luxuries. His newfound interest in pornographic literature and increase in smoking habits are more of a vice that he had taken up to cope with his loss of Biwako right before his second time running the office. However watching his village be illuminated by the first rays of the sun's light has been a luxury that has accompanied him throughout his long career as the Sandaime Hokage. This activity always helped him envision what all his struggles in life had amounted to – what all his sacrifices has helped protect.

It has been about two weeks since he had met with his charges and the revelations and the conversation he had with the boys were never far from his mind since. It had been enlightening. He had found Uzumaki Yamisuke an enigma however. The manner by which he had come to his more than accurate deductions from the small bits of information he got his hands onto, had let Hiruzen know that he indeed had another child-prodigy on his hands. And quite similar to Itachi, this one had the purest and an untainted love for his brother as well – only here the brother who appears to excel seems to be the younger (even if by half an hour).

What confused Hiruzen however was Yamisuke's seemingly endless respect and deference for Naruto. Without any outside influence he would have assumed the redhead to have taken charge. It seemed however that the two brothers had an unexplained rule or instinct to only take charge in something one was best suited for – the other would then follow the leading brother loyally. Naruto's instinctual protectiveness of his brother had also not went unnoticed by Hiruzen. Perhaps it is because they are twins, but the arrangement they had is _very_ different from what usually existed between conventional siblings like Itachi and his brother, or the Shōdai and the Nidaime or even between his own children where the elder and prodigal child would take charge. Nevertheless the bond between Naruto and Yamisuke seemed more than enough well-balanced and symbiotic to Hiruzen – though he had yet to determine exactly _what_ Yamisuke got from Naruto in this arrangement.

A sudden disturbance from the corner of his eyes flared Hiruzen's seasoned shinobi instincts that had been sharpened through the decades of his ninja-career. It took him less than a second to investigate the cause of such disturbance. When he looked at the source however, for the first time in a long while his brains scrambled. Rising from the north-eastern side of his village now suddenly stood a series of monstrous buildings and their sight alone was magnificent. But how can this be? There was nothing there but a moment ago. Hiruzen would have surely noticed such foreign architecture on his village grounds that were _this_ noticeable.

And wasn't that nearby the Uchiha compounds anyway? For an auspicious moment he feared that the Uchiha had revolted prematurely. Wait! Is that a big spiral on the face of one of those buildings? Hiruzen blinked once in confusion and tried looking closer. _Yes!_ Yes indeed! And below the now distinct Uzumaki spiral were the exact words in Uzuspeech – **_"UzuCorp"_**. Now that he thinks about it more clearly, these buildings were nearer to the Uzumaki commercial districts more than anywhere else.

Unbidden echoes of words spoken not so long ago suddenly flooded his mind.

**_"He is not kidding, you know? I do not often find him wrong or making claims he cannot perform on, dattebayo!"_ **

**_"I do not doubt that. But perhaps before reaching the stars you should attempt to reach Konoha's sky-line Yami-kun."_ **

**_"I will do you one better. I will redefine Konoha's sky-line."_ **

**_"Now you have done it."_ **

Those words once spoken in jest, was now doing a good job to haunt him. Absently Hiruzen noted that the sudden appearance of the giant majestic buildings out of thin air – he could easily approximate a minimum of hundred floors on each of them – had not gone unnoticed by Konoha's masses. Already packs of crowd were forming everywhere and the people were busy pointing to it. He could also feel the nervous flaring of the chakra of his ANBU operatives as they seemed equally bewildered about this phenomenon. He can even now sense a few of them zoning towards him.

"Yes I can see what you are seeing as well Kuma," said Hiruzen before his operative even had the chance to speak. "Gather the council and notify the ANBU that until I say otherwise, this is not a threat and they can for now return to their daily order – whatever of it still exists that is." Having his orders Kuma disappeared via a **_Konoha Sunshin_** (Leaf Flickering Technique) to see to their completion. Looking back towards the Uzumaki district Hiruzen muttered, "In the mean time I have two Uzumakis to deal with – and even at their young age these two are proving themselves to be _more_ tenacious than any of their ancestors had ever been."

Hiruzen just knew that today is going be a _long_ day.

* * *

"Sooo, did the Uzumakis not get the memo to wait for their coup until we are done or are they just lacking the common decency? How rude!" exclaimed a preteen boy with shaggy black hair. Though he had a smirk on his face, anyone who knew him would realize however that he was actually compensating for the sheer lack of composure and befuddlement he had been suffering from this morning.

The boy's head was summarily bashed in by a strong concussive force. As he yelped away in pain, an authoritative feminine voice said in annoyance, "Can you at least _pretend_ to be secretive Shisui?"

Clutching his head in an exaggerated show of pained aggravation, Shisui said pitifully, "Apologies Mikoto-oba!"

"See that it doesn't happen again," said Mikoto distractedly as the full focus of her gaze rested on the series of gigantic buildings that had appeared on their eastern borders overnight. A worried frown can be seen marring her gaze, the reason of which Shisui cannot say he was sure of. It was not uncommon for his aunt however, especially when anything to do with _the Uzumakis_ comes up.

"I thought that that district happens to be abandoned and empty," muttered Shisui in wonder.

"Not true exactly," said Mikoto. "I can still think of _three_ people who has access to that district but I am at a loss about who can be behind _this_." Suddenly the Hokage dropped right at the Uchiha-Uzumaki boundary and he was accompanied by his guard platoon and a woman with blue face-paints with whom Mikoto was only vaguely acquainted to. The woman also seemed to be in a heated discussion with the aged Hokage where the latter appeared to finally relent at last. "Take care of Sasuke for me, will you Shisui-kun? And in the event that Itachi returns from his mission before myself, inform him that I will be likely busy until further notice," said Mikoto as she started moving towards the Hokage's group.

"Wait oba-san! Are you going to be getting in _there_ with the Hokage's party?" At Mikoto's impatient nod Shisui hurried with his words. "But the Elders will be displeased with your going there unescorted."

Narrowing her eyes at her now nervous nephew Mikoto said in an irritated voice, "One – the 'Elders' esteemed as they are, do not dictate my actions. Two – I do _not_ give a rat's ass about their opinion on what I do. Three – in the event that they bother you, relay to them my sentiments on where they can stick their displeasure: preferably where the Sun does not shine. And lastly four – what reasons _I_ have to venture _there_ is personal and none of their business!"

Shisui just kept gradually cringing with the more aggressively coarse language his aunt used. He should have expected that however. She was never a morning person and currently it is at the crack of dawn. Deciding that discretion is the better part of valor in this situation, he simply nodded his submission and sighed in relief when his aunt focused the entirety of her attention on her next prey – the Sandaime Hokage.

Fortunately for Sarutobi he has not been through three world wars without developing a keen sense to predict whether there lay the possibility of victory in a conflict. Calculating the odds to be very low, having more interest in sustaining his energy for the obviously hectic days that would follow, and seeing as he already had too many tag-alongs to deny another – these all significantly contributed to Hiruzen's decision. He just sighed wearily at the Uchiha matriarch marching towards him as if on some mission. Once she was within the hearing range he spoke before the woman had the chance to so much as open her mouth, "Do not make a scene, start hyperventilating or interfering with my business, and I shall have no qualms against letting you tag along."

Mikoto _did_ look like she wanted to negotiate further on those terms, but relented at the face of the old Sarutobi's cold and unmovable determination. Agreeing to the specified terms she nodded.

Face relaxing in a wide smile (that did not fool _anyone_ ) Sarutobi exclaimed, "Well then let us delay no more and get onto it. Its time now to call on our hosts for the day."

* * *

The investigating party was now consisted of seven ANBU (with the orders to make themselves scarce the moment they are through the barrier), a woman in her late twenties, a teenager young woman just shy of the age of twenty and the old Hokage. Before Hiruzen could decide on what course of action to take once they reached the new entrance to sector-three of the Uzumaki district, they reached their destination and were met there by a nervous looking almost four-year old blond.

"A good morning to you Naruto-kun," said Hiruzen with such a pleasant tone that had the members of his party raising their eyebrows. Ignoring them, Hiruzen went about trying to put the blond at ease, "Might we all be allowed an entrance to your district today? We do have something important to discuss."

Naruto looked at Hiruzen blankly before slowly reaching up to a seal-matrix on an adjacent wall and then he channeled some of his chakra through it. As a glow lit up all around, the Hokage and his party wasted little time to enter through the seal-barrier. Mastering some strength Naruto then spoke robotically, "Please make yourself welcome to the Uzumaki commercial-sectors. Access is currently granted to only sectors three and six. Please do not venture into the other sectors of our district without the conscious and direct authority of a clan-member."

Although every member of the investigation party already knew all those – having been here at least once at some previous occasion – they all still nodded before the ANBU disappeared from view.

"So Naruto-kun," Hiruzen smiled genially. "It seems that you and your brother have been through some serious renovations."

"Are we in trouble?" blurted out the blond suddenly. "Yami may have come up with all the ideas, but I had helped as well! I am equally responsible as him – please don't punish him jī-san."

Face softening a little Hiruzen smiled, "No one will be in trouble as long as I have a say in the matter. While sudden, unexpected and frankly unrealistic I have yet to see any harm inflicted by your actions save for distracting my villagers and causing some minor pubic unrest. How you decorate or renovate _your_ property is no one else's business," Hiruzen said firmly to the surprise of the two woman accompanying him and the relief of the blond. "That being said," continued Hiruzen. "It seems young Yami-kun did indeed take my words a tad bit too seriously."

"I _so_ totally warned you not to provoke him, dattebayo," proclaimed Naruto.

Smiling ruefully Hiruzen said, "Yes. Yes you did. It is indeed my own folly to have underestimated your brother. Still however, I would be delightful to speak with him on certain topics, chief among them being _how_ did the two of you erect _these_ overnight."

"Okay I guess," agreed Naruto. "I can lead you to Yami if that is helpful. He was still working on the cultivator facilities that last I saw him."

Hiruzen ignored for the time being the foreign word. At the end of the day it was two children of _his_ village who have done something this remarkable. Thereby he instead nodded in appreciation. "That will be very helpful indeed." Then shifting himself to gesture to the two woman who accompanied him Hiruzen said, "Naruto-kun let me introduce you to two people who were very close to your parents. This young lady here happened to be your father's student Nohara Rin, and this here was one of your mother's teammates in her Genin cell, Uchiha Mikoto."

Bowing with a megawatt smile Naruto exclaimed loudly, "A pleasure to meet you both. My name is Uzumaki Naruto, dattebayo!"

Chuckling, it was the girl with the face-paint who choked out, "I know." With her emotions already running rampant, Rin lost her composure and grabbing the startled blond from the ground, smashed his head to her chest as she tightly hugged the child to herself. "It has been a _long_ while since I have been wanting to meet you Naruto-kun," said Rin as she continued with her coddling of the blond, much to Hiruzen's amusement.

For Naruto, though he found it a tad bit difficult to breathe, he still found the embrace in itself altogether very pleasant. Wherein with Yami it was always about equal transaction, this embrace here offered him with warmth, comfort and love just like only an adult's presence can. He had thus no qualms against being manhandled to make the feeling last as long as it can.

Mikoto however found herself extremely confused and bewildered with the nature and manner of Sarutobi's introduction. Were the children aware of their heritage? She would have expected of Sarutobi to have kept it a secret. The man must have noticed her dilemma for he offered the answer to her quandary without her having to voice it.

"They had it all figured out by themselves with a little help from their clan resources," offered Hiruzen and Mikoto nodded in understanding. She did not have much grounds to suspect anything foul anyways. If she was reading along the lines correctly than Kushina's redheaded child had something to do with these all. She knew not if all these developments was the result of some advanced Fūinjutsu – she was highly skeptical of that theory – or if it was something else altogether. What she was slowly realizing however is that they might have on their hands a potential genius unparalleled to all those that came before him. She would however reserve her final judgment until she had met the boy for herself.

"Nee-chan I gotta breathe," squeaked out Naruto.

Chuckling a little Hiruzen said, "Do not asphyxiate the boy yet Rin-chan. He still has to lead us to his brother."

Refusing to let go of her child-toy yet, Rin simply swung the boy so that he was now sitting on her shoulders. Naruto certainly did not complain at that action. Instead he let out an excited whoop in delight.

Despite herself Mikoto couldn't help but crack a smile at the adorable sight of the two of them.

* * *

As the group traversed the way long the outer edge of sector-three to wherever Naruto was leading them to, Mikoto found the blond child looking at her every few seconds with a speculative gaze. Hoping to set him at ease she relaxed her facial mask to a softer expression and then smiled at the boy. "You want to ask me anything Naruto-kun?"

Though blushing a little at being caught in his 'inspection', Naruto nonetheless relaxed at the woman's smile. "Oh its nothing ba-chan," said he. "Just checking if you can still smile freely. Thank the gods that you _can_!"

Looking puzzled Mikoto had to wonder, "And why is that?"

Smiling freely now Naruto said, "It is just that Yami often cautions me to stay away from Uchihas who fail to retain their ability to smile genuinely after passing through the ordeals and something called 'angst' during their teenage years. He warned me to _never_ befriend the Uchiha children – as you may never know yet if they will or won't lose their smiling ability. Apparently Uchihas who in their teenage years fail to retain their ability to smile genuinely, either go down a dark path or become sadistic psychos who would make Jashin followers envious – though he never did say what a Jashin follower is but it must probably be something bad with how disgusted Yami looked while saying it." The blond said the entire monologue with a sagely countenance and satisfaction at being able to impart his brother's 'wisdom' to someone else. So lost was he in relishing in his satisfaction, Naruto never noticed his 'ride' suddenly speeding up to make some distance between themselves and the rest of their companions.

It was not until Rin and her charge were out of the hearing range that Sarutobi broke down into uncontrollable fits of hysterical laughter. "That was **gold** ," he exclaimed in his mirth. "I _so_ needed that to go through the hassle I know this week is going to turn into."

Mikoto just kept her face in a tight and obviously fake smile. Even before their 'official' meeting Kushi-brat was managing to annoy her more than his mother ever had. Worse, it seems that he is also corrupting Mina-clone. It seems that her fears of a Kushina with Minato's prodigal brilliance were no longer the contents of her nightmare.

Slowly turning to face the still chuckling Hokage with her now activated Sharingan Mikoto growled out menacingly, "Not a word of this to anyone you old fart! You understand?"

Raising his hand in a placating gesture Sarutobi made a zipping motion on his mouth. Conflict settled, the both of them then sped up a little to catch up with the other two. Not being able to control his urge of riling up his companion a tad bit more, Sarutobi said slyly, "But you have to admit that the child was eerily correct."

"Shut up!" snapped Mikoto to the Hokage's amusement. Sadly however the twisted theory was starting to make sense to her as well and she hated herself for that. Kushi-brat is indeed more annoying than any of his predecessors has ever been.

On a side-note Itachi is brooding increasingly more these days. She will be looking out more now and ensure that her lovely boy _never_ go down the dark path. She will however not even deign to take seriously the prospect of her firstborn converting to Jashinism. She won't tolerate it at all!

* * *

It did not take the party long to reach a clearing which now seemed to be one of the new entry-points to the Uzumaki commercial-sectors. Standing there was a red-haired boy wearing a black shirt that had an orange spiral etched on its front. The boy stood there in a dramatic pose with his arms folded and eyes closed as he faced the group of adults.

Before anyone could start speaking, the boy – Yamisuke, said in what was an attempt at a sassy voice by a child just out of his toddling years. "So you have finally arrived to revel with us for our accomplishments, and to perhaps marvel at our creations as well, eh jī-san?"

Hiruzen had to smile at the child's antics but that soon morphed into a smirk when in the next moment the redhead suddenly found himself getting smothered on Rin's chest as she went on full mother-hen mode on the boy. The girl seemed clingier than usual today – probably the release of her long restrained emotions she had always wanted to lavish on her sensei's children. Minato always seemed closer to his genins than the average jonin-sensei, and to an orphan like Rin he probably was the closest thing to a father-figure she had even before he saved her life from the brink of death. The restraining order from her sensei's children must have truly grated on her more than even it did on Kakashi most probably.

Beside Hiruzen, Mikoto smiled serenely at Kushi-brat's torment. He deserved it for being more annoying than his mother – even if the reason seemed more childish than anything (and something Kushina would probably use to justify herself).

Flailing widely Yamisuke shouted in a muffled voice, "Whoever you are lady, you are totally ruining my moment here!" His complains on his situation and pleas for release from said situation fell on deaf ears unfortunately. Only Naruto was sympathetic to his brother's ordeal but he refused to tempt fate and thus stayed perched on nee-chan's shoulder. His brother would live.

It took a while before Rin could be convinced to let the younger Uzumaki go. A second bout of introduction soon followed. For himself, Yamisuke was mightily confused at what Uchiha Mikoto was doing here. Canon simply had not explained much on what exactly her relation with Uzumaki Kushina was, so Yamisuke was uncertain if they had been close enough for Mikoto to check up on her friend's sons. He was however extremely shocked at the prospect of Nohara Rin still living and understandably so. Does that mean that she had never been made into the jinchūriki of Isobu? Or is she _currently_ the jinchūriki of the Sanbi bijū? Or perhaps, as is the case with himself and his brother, she has inside of herself a fragment of Isobu's chakra, or consciousness, or both? He couldn't figure out _this_ puzzle and decided at the end to not let it bother him so much. Perhaps the universe he had landed in had its timeline a little twisted to allow for Nohara Rin to live for some reason. As it is now however, it just means one more ally firmly on their side.

At the end of the introductions Hiruzen finally spoke, "So Yami-kun, you can see that I am in a dilemma here. While whatever has happened here is in no way illegal or even skirting the law in fact, I must however know _what_ exactly have happened here and how. Even you must realize that the sudden appearance of these mega-structures from thin air can be very alarming."

Nodding tiredly from his new perch on Rin's unoccupied shoulder, Yamisuke said, "Well, in reality it was not that miraculous or tough even with the possession of the right tools we have created – which in this case are a **matter-replicator** and **nanobots**. It was the architectural lay-out and planning that took us so long or else you would have seen this prepared two weeks ago. Once that was done, it was the work of but a single night to build all which you are seeing now."

As he finished speaking Yamisuke was faced with blank and uncomprehending faces from everyone around him. Naruto sighed a bit. He had went through that phase as well not so long ago until he was made by his brother to learn all the mechanisms, concepts and theories under Jinton. Thus he found himself explaining what his brother cannot do in simple layman's terms. "He is saying that he designed one tiny builder which in turn replicated itself from provided resources, until he had for himself an army of them that then helped him build all these skyscrapers over-night. As for the resources needed, he built a device that harnesses input energy to generate any specified matter or even duplicate objects constituted of the parent matter."

With dawning comprehension, looks of awe and amazement appeared over everyone's faces. These are some miraculous inventions indeed and one Hiruzen can definitely see becoming the village's closely guarded secret very soon. Entire nations (not limited to the shinobi ones) would go to war to have something like those in their possession and to think nothing of what their limits can be.

Still though there was one important question there which Rin had to ask in wonder, "And you made them all on your own Yami-kun?"

Suddenly getting a little bashful Yamisuke said, "Well, nii-san did a lot of help as well."

Frowning a little Naruto grumbled, "Even if you call my laboring under your directions a lot of 'help' Yami, it still stands that the idea and technical know-how were all yours. Sure _now_ I know and understand them as well, but take credit in that it was you who _discovered_ them." And that was somewhat of the truth as well. Even though these two devices were wishes granted by their eternal dragons, Naruto by himself couldn't have conceptualized or theorized such technical wonders to have made the wishes. And as their creation of the eternal dragons had been decidedly labelled by the brothers as _top level_ clan-hiden _and_ **_Kinjutsu_** (Forbidden Technique), so they have decided to go with the story of 'building' their miracle machines.

To put it frankly, all three adults were dumbfounded. A child yet to see his fourth year of life has made things with such limitless potential – bordering on miraculous even. Sure now that they were explained, the concept behind the devices seemed simple, but how could a child have theorized it much less build something like that as well? They knew of young prodigies sure, it was not uncommon in their world. But these two brothers were very quickly redefining the limits of those dimensions. And they have not even done anything remotely ninja-related. Most ironical part was that it seemed that the two children were still mostly oblivious to the fact that what they have made was indeed _very_ special and in no way common.

Replaying all that she had still heard in her mind Mikoto asked curiously, "And what exactly is this 'matter-replicator' drawing the energy from? In fact, how are you planning to supply this big an establishment with the needed power?"

Nodding Yamisuke answered dutifully, "Both excellent questions. To your first question, it is a black hole. To your second question, city wide power is supplied by arc-reactors and appliances are powered by quantum batteries."

Without a prompt Naruto explained, "A black hole is a dying star. Apparently talks of stars had given my brother his inspiration and he made it happen by funneling power from one such black hole by using space-time Fūinjutsu to safely draw such huge powers via a controlled and safe medium. So once again congratulations jī-san!" Here Naruto paused to glare at a sheepish Hiruzen. Still everyone were fascinated at the explained mechanism. They didn't even know previously that there existed something as a 'dying star' much less that its energy could be harnessed.

"Finding a dying star to open a portal to , had been a major pain however. Saying that the formulas and math I had to solve for that was hectic, is putting it lightly," groused Yamisuke. In truth the wish had been for the entire set-up with a built-in navigator to search for distant black holes to draw energy from. Still Yamisuke had endeavored to draw up all the related information pertaining to his wished devices on his **_OmniTop_** – result of a wish wherein he had asked for a repository of all the knowledge available to be stored in a laptop-like device with a capable search-engine. Of course the problem with such a device was that one would still need to specify what they wanted to search but Yamisuke can still roll with that. The actual point of delaying had been for the brothers to learn all about the devices Yamisuke had wished and how they functioned in order to effectively hide even any hints on the existence of the eternal dragons – something they deemed to more necessarily be kept a secret than even their wished technologies.

Hiruzen, Mikoto, Rin and even the ANBU listening-in, were all simply amazed at the nonchalance that the children showed towards everything they have created. It did indeed hint towards the fact that despite being unnaturally genius, they were not _aware_ enough to realize the magnitude of what they have created.

Naruto, oblivious to the adults' thoughts, continued from earlier, "An arc-reactor apparently is a technology that harnesses the power from the fusion reaction of extracting electrons from heavy hydrogen isotopes in a controlled environment. Yeah! Don't look at me like that. I have simplified it as much as I can. To truly understand the concept you have to study atomic, particle and matter physics. Quantum batteries are also a somewhat similar concept but finds application on a lower scale to provide power for regular appliances that may get overloaded by a reactor or simply cannot be attached to a heavy disc of twenty centimetres diameter – which is about the rough dimension of an arc-reactor. They are also apparently clean energy and apparently limitless."

Jaws were practically dropping everywhere as Naruto had gradually progressed with his explanation. Limitless, free _and_ clean energy? Energy had been something Hiruzen knew to be one of the two reasons that the First Secret Shinobi World War had been fought over. Energy and food are what had kept feudal civilian ruling bodies still in power. And to hear that two of his village's children had seamlessly discovered a way to provide for it on a whim to compensate for a challenge? The gears in his head had already started turning endlessly. With or without knowing it, these children had paved a path for the new future of the ninja-kind. And it delighted him to know that his beloved Konoha will be the one to take the lead in this path. The legacy bestowed by the whirling tides, even in its death, has not ceased away with amazing the world. He had not forgotten what it was like to deal with Uzumakis – they always would keep you on your toes and let you try guessing at how they will change your perception of the world next.

"So," spoke up Yamisuke with a grin and unknowingly breaking all the adults (and even some ANBU) of their reverie, "Do you have the time for a tour jī-san?"

With a thoughtful expression on his face Hiruzen said, "I am supposed to meet my council today and after everything that we have heard I guess I should get the two of you to attend as well. So keeping that in mind…" Pausing once, Hiruzen closed his eyes dramatically before suddenly replying cheerfully with a grin, " _Make it last for as long as you can._ "

The children whopped in joy and despite everything the adults surrounding them realized suddenly that at their core, they still had the heart and personality of children.

* * *

The short journey to what Yamisuke called the boarding-platform was made in a silence where the adults kept contemplating the sheer extent of what they have heard and the numerous possibilities that now lay before them, while the youngsters were busier enjoying their mobile ride who was quickly becoming both the brother's most favorite adult – much to the delight of said adult.

Soon they reached the stop where lay an assortment of numerous hollow semi-spherical white objects. A tad bit confused now Mikoto asked, "What are those?"

"Our transportation during our tour," said Naruto. "Let us get in there. I only have traveled in those once since they were built and it _was_ fun. I couldn't wait for a second ride, dattebayo."

The adults couldn't help but look between the objects and the children. Seeing no hints of a joke on either of their faces, they shrugged and entered the transport. Finding a bench-like arrangement inside, they soon made themselves comfortable on their chosen seats.

Wondering at something Naruto asked, "Wait jī-san! Are those masked people not going to be accompanying us? They wouldn't be able to follow us by themselves in the altitude we would be travelling in."

Hiruzen looked intrigued at the fact that they will be travelling at an altitude but did not give much thought to it. If anything went wrong… well any decent shinobi is adept at jumping from high altitudes. While ditching his ANBU guard detail would have pleased him like nothing else, he decided in the end to not pile up the fuss they would surely raise, over all the burdens he knew he will be facing this entire week. Thus he sent a discreet signal and all the seven ANBU entered the now slightly cramped space before awkwardly taking a seat for themselves. Hiruzen couldn't help but smirk slightly at that. ANBU, while notorious in the shadows, were also the most uncomfortable at remaining visible for extended periods of time while in their uniforms.

Yamisuke fiddled with a panel of buttons mounted on the wall of the transport, and suddenly a see-through glass encased the opening of the semi-sphere and then the transport started moving and simultaneously started gaining altitude. Naruto started speaking without prompt again, "We call these means of transport the **_air-cabs_**. The glass you see before yourself is supposed to endure a lot of blunt trauma without taking a scratch. In the means of any potential accident the entire structure absorbs a lot of the kinetic force to keep all its passengers safe even after falling from the highest point in our route. The transport is currently moving via anti-gravity propellers and kept in place through some strong magnetic field that is laid onto the path that this transport takes. The route connects to many other boarding-platforms that are placed in close contact with the major areas of the sector. We mean to use this as the public transport with the limit of fifteen people to every air-cab."

The adults simply nodded to that. Frankly that was not the most surprising news after all that they have heard. Soon they entered through the perimeter of the outlier buildings and thus were able to witness the actual site of the remodeled commercial-sector that remained hidden from view from the outside. The sector they now witnessed was surrounded from all outer edges by the majestic 'skyscrapers'. What lay inside however was nothing short of awe-inspiring. Both the women couldn't control their gasps at the breath-taking sight and Hiruzen absently noted his operatives straining themselves to not do the same. Well, he wouldn't blame them if this once they did lose control over themselves – he himself was finding it hard to believe the sight in front of him as they slowly gained altitude from where the entirety of the two commercial districts could now be seen in all its newfound full glory.

The settlement, though small, was as unrealistically advance as it could get. Despite the others having never seen anything of this design before, they still could feel the vibe of advancement and futuristic development just from the sight alone. The gigantic buildings reflected the Sun's light even as its morning rays glistened down on the crystal clear water of a lake that had not been there before – so they had to assume that somehow it has been made artificially. The water body ran along the middle of the two sectors and also acted as a canal that now connects the two previously disconnected sectors three and six. Numerous bridges and the like ran over the water body and wide stretches of plants, trees and parks could also be found running along both its banks. A small pier could also be seen on one part of the bank where some boats of a truly strange make could be found in congregation. Only Yamisuke and Naruto (via the former) knew them as gondolas that has been designed to become the go-to activity for couples intending for a romantic activity.

The adults soon realized that the big buildings were in reality the multiplex structures that would now support the sectors' commercial needs and demands. With towering buildings so high they had more than enough space in their lands to decorate.

"It is a very beautiful settlement you both have made here Naruto-kun, Yami-kun," said Rin even as her attention was still mostly on taking in as much of the breath-taking sight as possible.

"Indeed it is," agreed Mikoto, her eyes alight in wonder at spectating such a majestic sight. Curiously she asked, "What are those buildings laden with green however?" The buildings in question were a series of block-like structures with the strangest architectural design anyone has ever seen – it appeared alien even whilst surrounded by the other buildings. In appearance it looked like a series of plated platforms that have went up and each platform seems to be spilling with plants. These series of buildings that ran as far as the eye can stretch were also accompanied by another series of windowless block of black buildings that ran adjacently to the buildings with spilling plants.

Taking note of what had caught the adults' attention Yamisuke smiled and said, "Oh those are my vertical farming facilities. Nifty little trick I got the inspiration of from a rainbow. They use purple light from light emitting diodes, hydroponics and aeroponics to help grow plants with the maximum efficiency."

This time even before Naruto could begin explaining his brother's technical jargon, he had all the adult's rapt attention directed at himself with their razor focus. If the short amount they could comprehend was correct, then this right here an be the game changer.

Naruto however did not detect the sudden increase in his audience's attention and simply went about his job, "The theory behind a rainbow is that the light we usually see is in reality a combination of the seven major colors of light in the visible spectrum – the violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red or shortly acronymed as VIBGYOR. Water vapors can sometimes refract the monochromatic beam of light and scatter it into its constituent colored lights – thus making a rainbow. To get the optimum results we subjected our plants under each of these isolated light and discovered that they react the best to red and blue colored lights. The vertical farming facility makes use of a combination of these two colored lights – that being the purple light.

"As the facility would need a _lot_ of soil to supplement it, we decided to go for an easier route which we have and can make in abundance – water. Dissolving the required nutrients in the water we grow the plants both in excess and in the maximum efficiency. This is what we call hydroponics. In some cases where water can prove detrimental to a plant in question we use aeroponics – the culture of plants in nutrient-rich air."

More than ever throughout the day filled with surprises, was _now_ when everybody was amazed. Hiruzen himself had to take a deep breath to bring his raging emotions under control. A lot of what Naruto said had even went over his head. He was a professor of chakra and ninpou and was now finding himself quite inadequate with the technological wonders the two children have created. To think that these two made overnight everything that the First Secret Shinobi World War was fought over. Everything that made the hidden shinobi villages rely on the civilian feudal lords of their country despite being powerful enough to displace them. The gears in his head were spinning very fast with all the possibilities he could now envision before himself.

Still he had to ask one important question, "What exactly are you now growing there and how much can you produce?"

Yamisuke took to answering this one, "We have started just now so we would still need a month at least before our first yield. We did manage to sequester about a thousand of these facilities across the commercial sector outliers. Each facility has three distinct levels. One level is dedicated to staple crops – half a level cultivates rice while the other half cultivate wheat. The next level is again divided in half by pulses and fruits. The last level is a little complexly divided into an assortment of the most basic vegetables. As they all need some different environment to thrive, we have implemented aeroponics to sustain them as it makes it easier to control their suitable environment. As for our produce, we have each facility producing an estimated net of a minimum of hundred tons of processed food."

Oh! Hiruzen was now _definitely_ cackling away mentally. The village's current population is eighty-thousand of which shinobi population constitutes around fifteen-thousands. A shinobi in average needs about ten-kilograms of daily sustenance while the civilian populations consume an average of four-and-a-half kilograms of food. Even if the civilian populations started consuming food at the same rate as their shinobi counter-parts (which Hiruzen has no doubts that they cannot), then still they would consume a daily net average of eight-hundred-thousand kilograms. That would ultimately sum up the monthly consumption rate to an estimated of twenty-four-million kilograms. And if he were to believe the two Uzumakis – which he had still not found a reason not to – then they would start producing in a month about an estimated yield of a hundred-million kilograms in total. That in itself would shore up about seventy-six-million kilograms of surplus.

While not doing the same as fast as the aged Hokage, his companions were still getting an idea of just how major an impact this could have on the village's food situation. To not be dependent on the country's civilian government for a highly taxed food-supplies is indeed a major boon that _no_ hidden village can boast of – Konoha can very well be the first one to do so however.

Wondering about something Rin asked, "And what use are those bare black buildings serving then?"

Looking at the referred buildings Naruto said, "Those are our equivalent of animal rearing farms. Only instead of real animal rearing, we will use a crude model of our matter-replicator – nicknamed as matter-synthesizer, to synthesize organic meat and infertile eggs. With this we would have venison, pork, beef and mutton without having to drive the local species to extinction."

Eyes bulging out in incredulity Mikoto wondered, "And that is _safe_ to consume? What is wrong with real animals?"

"As safe as it is in eating real animals," said Yamisuke. "The synthesizers are programmed with a single set-up of an organic frame of the edible animals we have on our hands, so that we can replicate them to their molecular make-up. We even have the means to make the meat more nutritious than the parent sample would be. In reality this was a measure by the both of us to ensure that we do not run our district's local wildlife populations to the ground. The animals we synthesize will never be conventionally alive as well, since even an animalistic conscience is an acquired aspect that needs the factor of time to mature properly. Our specimens would never have their neural systems triggered. If by some chance they gain life – which I repeat is _not_ possible currently – they wouldn't even know what to do with their mature bodies."

All the shinobis now present there were very unnerved with this possibility. A shinobi's body hold many of their secrets. Does this mean that this 'matter-replicator' or the inferior 'matter-synthesizer' can generate body duplicates to plunder? What if such technology fell in the wrong hands – someone not as attached to the village as these two children?

Trying to remain calm Hiruzen asked, "And will you be keeping such dangerous devices within the easy access of a commercial district?"

Chucking mirthfully Yamisuke said, "Of course not! They have on themselves the Uzumaki patent seals."

So infamous were the famed clan's patent seals, that everyone of the adults breathed a sign in relief. If an Uzumaki patent seal cannot hold a secret, then nothing remotely can. Of course this in turn raised the questions of how the two youths knew of that, if they can etch seals and if they do then how proficiently, and lastly how did they make so many seals so quickly. However none of the adults could currently muster the drive to question that in the face of endless energy and self-produced food. They decided to wonder about that at a later time.

Mikoto now had to ask the question everyone had been wondering, "So how much exactly are the two of you selling your yield for? I mean even the highest price you charge would be _lot_ cheaper than our heavily taxed imports."

Looking at the woman confusedly Naruto said, "We were never planning to _sell_ our yield ba-chan. Instead we are arranging for a daily system where every citizen of Konoha can get a daily package of the vital sustenance irrespective of any discrimination."

As the incredulity rose among the assorted group Yamisuke said in agreement, "Indeed we would. It has been never our motive to profit from people's vital needs – it leaves a bad taste to any wealth acquired from that avenue. We _would_ profit from other avenues, but they would all be luxury or comfort. Our food that we grow in abundance _shall_ be free. And of the surplus, a half of it will go to Konoha's treasury while we will try distributing the other half in the outlying villages under the name of 'Kushina Welfare Fund'. We thought that would be a good way to honor kaa-chan's memory, dattebayo."

To say that the grown-ups were overwhelmed and at a loss would be an understatement. Not even once had they dreamed of _that_ prospect. Mikoto in fact couldn't help but burst out, "Distribute for free? To these ungrateful masses? Why?"

Despite wanting to, this is one of the few times Hiruzen couldn't find it in himself to defend his village. The Uchiha matriarch's question were indeed genuine. Why help the masses that have done nothing but hated and ostracized you from a few hours after your birth? What could one's motive be to help out the people of these masses?

Smiling fondly Naruto said, "Why ever not? We have more food than we know what to do with. And this can serve as a compensation of sorts for whatever destruction our prisoner caused about four years ago."

All the adults present bar Hiruzen flinched at _that_ reminder but Mikoto still rallied her point. She would not have her best friend's children getting robbed by these disgraceful excuse for _villagers_. "But you must have known that the villagers do not have the best interest for the both of _you_. Why are you even trying to pay for something that was never in your control and nor your fault. I don't understand why even think to pay these people at all?"

Shrugging once Naruto replied, "Even though the anger and hatred they bear for us is misdirected, the pain, loss and hurt behind their anger and hatred is no less real than the one my brother and I suffer from never having our departed parents in our life. Besides the village is our mother, and that makes the villagers our family. You do not go about hating or punishing family if they lash out at you in pain now, do you?"

"The village… is the m-mother?" stuttered out Hiruzen in wonder. This was his first time his hearing about _that_ kind of point of view.

Nodding as he gazed at their settlement Yamisuke said, "Even when we had no one, the village provided for us, sheltered us, fed us _and_ helped the two of us brothers meet. We do not have a better idea of what a mother is but we believe Konoha stepped in where our mother couldn't. Don't get us wrong – nothing can ever replace the love and respect we have for kaa-chan, but that does not mean we cannot love another as our mother. When we were both alone and had still been sleeping in our then run-down temple, Konoha sang us lullaby through her forest's wildlife and comforted us. When we lacked resources and were cold, Konoha gifted us woods from her forests to keep us warm. When we were hungry with nothing to eat, Konoha presented us the food from her vast bounty. So how can we not love her as our mother? And it is our love and respect for her that we want to extend to her villagers despite facing their hostility. They can keep up hating us but we refuse to change ourselves to start hating them – thus inadvertently hating our mother as well. After all if they can hate us with such strong passion, why can we _not_ match our love to an equal if not greater passion, eh?"

Mikoto had long beeng silenced into Yamisuke's speech and by the end even Hiruzen had some concealed wetness in his eyes at hearing the young Uzumaki's passion for his and his brother's personification of the village. What Hashirama-sensei had borne for Konoha had been the love a progenitor has for his creation, but the two children in front of him bore for the village a pure and sacred love that only children bears for their parents. Indeed he was today assured that if nothing else, the Will of Fire burns very strongly in this generation.

While Rin rubbed both the children's heads affectionately, the ANBU themselves inclined their heads unnoticeably, but still in respect. The words spoken resonated with them strongly and described best what drove them to sacrifice so much, and still operate in the black ops program. The two young Uzumakis would not know it for a long while, but their words and decision on how to use their resources today, will have gained them Konoha's ANBU's respect, admiration and attention by the end of the day. This would also go down to gain them some very powerful allies later on in their life. Without knowing it, the two brothers have also popularly personified Konoha as a mother-figure to many of her shinobi population and thus gave them a sense of belonging to a family to serve as a base for their loyalty.

Clearing his throat once to gain everyone's attention and to also bring his turmoiling emotions under control, Hiruzen said while addressing Naruto, "A few weeks ago, on that night you and your brother shared your meal with me, I had said that anyone with the right determination, drive and especially subscribing to the Will of Fire can become the Hokage." Looking at both the children now he said seriously, "Today I'll urge the both of you to take your ninpou lessons _very_ seriously so that at the minimum you are in the same leagues as your parents. I fully expect to be able to see one of you two under this hat in my lifetime at least, even if I'm not the one to pass it down to you."

The gathered shinobi were all blown by _that_ proclamation from their Hokage. Every Hokage chooses their successor among their students or from the pupils of their students. For the Sandaime to have said those words, meant that the two Uzumakis were now one step ahead of every other potential Hokage candidates – a great advantage to have over other Hokage aspirants.

And for some reason Mikoto couldn't bring herself to begrudge over that even though the favorites were yet again not Uchihas. Even if Itachi is a prodigy in his own right, no one can say that the two Uzumakis did not earn it. Of course there was also the fact that the favorites of this generation were her godsons and that would grant her the power to bully the potential upcoming Hokage. Though the Uchiha 'Elder' council would not be satisfied, she can be content with that much.

Shaking his head Yamisuke said, "I have no interest on that front. Nii-san is the interested party here so let him deal with it. Of course, should our efforts prove to gain us some positive public relations, I will not be averse to that."

"They better," grumbled Mikoto – still not being able to get over the prospect of the two brothers not charging anything for food. What _special_ treatment would she be getting as their godmother if they go about doing public-charity so zealously? She deserves to feel special as the godmother to two geniuses, dammit! Shaking herself out of her musings she asked, "What was the part about 'Kushina Welfare Fund' again?"

"Oh!" exclaimed Naruto excitedly. "That was an idea Yami and I came up with to provide food for poor-class children, elderlies, new mothers and pregnant woman in the outlying settlements. Basically we will set up some distributing facilities in those areas from where those people can get their daily sustenance. Yami said however that we would need to hire some protective detail to keep the distributing facilities safe from bandits and other rich power-players."

The last part Naruto said while looking wonderingly at Hiruzen, to whose response he simply waved off and said, "Do not worry about that you two. Compared to what you both will be saving the village, the revenue needed to post guard details will be some insignificant C-Ranks. Consider this a free service from the village as a small token of gratitude."

What was left unsaid, the ANBU leader of the day's Hokage protective detail mused, was that it would also cast the village in a positive light, gain them a heavy inflow of recruitments _and_ reduce a lot of the local banditry problem that keep rising from _those_ villages due to poverty. These three in themselves made the distributive facilities a lucrative offer.

"Think she will be proud?" wondered Yamisuke as he looked at the distance.

Putting a hand on the boy's shoulder Rin smiled in reassurance, "You both cannot make her prouder, trust me on that." Looking at the woman that shouldn't have been alive, Yamisuke nonetheless nodded in gratitude. With a wondering gaze again Rin looked over at the settlement – something she still was having a hard time believing in. Indeed her sensei's legacy is _very_ special. Still there was one more thing that didn't make sense to her and she decided to voice it, "Say Naruto-kun, Yami-kun, how exactly are you two going to run this settlement? Even with unlimited power you would still need to hire for manual labor and _that_ doesn't seem to be very good for your income initially."

Smiling deviously, Yamisuke simply brought out multiple copies of a three-sheet manual and distributed them between the gathered people.

"What is this?" asked Rin quizzically.

'One of my wishes in paper,' mused Yamisuke in his mind. Outside he replied, "The guide manual of the three classes of droid units that I will be releasing commercially. For your answer nee-chan, we will be using those enlisted under classes three and five – or the assist and labor classes respectively." As everybody automatically turned to his brother for an explanation yet again, Yamisuke muttered sullenly, "I am starting to feel a little underappreciated here."

Ignoring his redhead brother's complains Naruto replied, "Mechanical beings programmed with an artificial intelligence that can substitute for annual labor and various other specified tasks. They have originally been classified into five classes based on their level of programming intelligence, but the classifications you see now are based upon their applications. The commercial classes three and five will be marketed under the name of 'Uzubots'. It is one of those avenue we expect to profit from."

"And you will," promised Mikoto as she kept on pursuing the uzubot class manuals. These droids she can already see herself and plenty others investing on. Finally something to exercise her godmother's rights on, Mikoto mused in shameless glee.

Hiruzen and the other adults were similarly engrossed as they leafed through their manuals. They no longer had it in themselves to be amazed at another impossibility made possible by the two brothers. By now they were all going with the flow, so to speak. With a raised brow Rin said, "What about marketing class-one?"

Deciding to spare everyone the trouble Naruto spoke before his brother could, "Those are one of the two android classes. They are not meant for commercial marketing – rather we will be donating that batch to the village's hospital along with furnishing another batch in our hospital as well. The other android designation of class-two droids we have classified under clan-secrets."

Deciding to forgo asking about the clan-secret droids – Hiruzen decided that he still does not have anything to mistrust his charges' motives – he went about asking the more pressing news, "You will be volunteering one of your buildings for a hospital?" Despite not being exactly illegal, no one exactly invested in that. Most just donated in the village's hospital.

"Hai!" said Naruto while pointing to one of the 'skyscrapers'. "That one would be it. I was thinking of naming it under the Shōdai but Yami said that we cannot just use his name without permission. In addition we have another building for an orphanage which would also serve as day-care, but apparently once again some permission is needed."

Hiruzen had to marvel at the irony. Those two children had more authority over the Shōdai's name sans perhaps one. Deciding to leave _that_ can of worms unopened he instead said, "As the Hokage I grant you both the permission to name your hospital after the Shōdai. As for the second one, I will send down one of my most trusted official overseeing many of the village's orphanages to inspect yours. She will then have the ultimate decision on whether or not her charges are to be moved."

Frankly the aftermath of the Kyūbi incident had opened up a record more of orphanages than anytime ever – many of which were even out of the village-boundaries and Nonō seemed to be running herself ragged trying to maintain them all. Should the orphanage here be judged acceptable, he had no qualms over paring with some of his troubles and worries. He is sure that Nonō would be more than happy to retire her 'wandering' title and appreciate a central place inside the security of the village from where she can oversee all her charges at the same time.

Additionally, it will also make it tough for his rival to poach for candidates in his 'illegal' organization and he was sure that _that_ would annoy the hell out of him. That alone made this move golden for Hiruzen.

Suddenly Rin questioned, "What would be class-four then?"

Yamisuke sighed in sufferance. "Saw that, didn't you? Well… whatever." And so saying, he produced copies of another manual – only this one was in black with white writing. "Introducing the Black-class that is solely designed for military purposes and have _nothing_ to do with either the clan or commercial prospects."

Smiling slightly Naruto decided to add his own two cents, "What Yami is not telling however is that this class, designated as 'drones', is something he had made the designs of under an over-excited haze without realizing what exactly he was making. He later blamed his boredom for his over-sight however."

Yamisuke simply gave his brother a betrayed look.

The adults meanwhile had their eyebrows gradually rising up as they pursued through the contents of the 'black-class'. Now _this_ was finally something that they could directly implement in their shinobi life-style. The names of some of these units – if the names indeed expressed their functions – proved that after a long day of toiling and mining, they have finally hit the vein of the proverbial gold-mine.

"One thing though," said Yamisuke dully. "Those things were so troublesome that I had to build inside of them memory-wipers programmed to trigger themselves every two months in order to prevent these droids from gaining awareness. Even if they are less intelligent than the labor-class uzubots, you would always want a labor-droid gaining intelligence over a self-aware combat droid. With that said, I will totally understand if you ask me to scrape such dangerous models."

"Don't be absurd child," said Hiruzen with a smile. "A weapon is a tool at the end and what you do with said tool is what defines you. We as shinobi live our daily lives facing and overcoming risks on our life. Even if your countermeasures do not work, we won't succumb to them so easily. That being said, I have to say finally after seeing something I _can_ comprehend and appreciate – _well done_ to the both of you! You both _should_ feel proud of yourself over everything you have accomplished today and at such a young age."

Behind him his ANBU finally threw caution to the wind and broke their code as a special exception, to nod emphatically in agreement. These drones had too much potential applications to simply _scrape_ them after all.

* * *

> **(A/N): It seems I am good at sequentially breaking my previous records and I cannot be prouder of myself. I know that the total chapter was more of an info-dump and I have still to come out of the building phases of my story, but I am trying _very_ hard to not rush this time. I had fallen in that trap too many times and do not want to repeat it again. With that said, please tell me what you think of it. I might not take in much advice on the way my story is taking as I have already decided on one, but I'll always appreciate constructive-criticism on the contents I have already put up more than anything.**

**Signing off,**

**~Ryuukage5400**


	7. The Densetsu no San'nin

**_ (September 83 A.V.) _ **

**_ Konohagakure no Sato _ **

* * *

"So… why now?" I find it very intriguing that _you_ would make the effort to step back from crossing the line when it seemed success was just in your sight. So what changed?" asked Sarutobi Hiruzen of his once prized student – the one he now trusted the least and always saw under the light of suspicion. Yet he was also the only of his three students that still resided in the village despite being the most at odds with Hiruzen himself.

The aforementioned student – Orochimaru of the San'nin, just smiled. "A lot has changed," he admitted. "I was given an offer with some thoughts to think upon."

"Ah! That little Uzumaki," pondered Hiruzen. "I must admit that I was quite alarmed when my operatives reported of your _chance_ meeting with the boy. I must also admit your efforts at masking the conversation that followed did not endear you to myself at that time. However when no more contact was made, I indeed wrote off that incident as truly a one-time occurrence. Are you suggesting that it was not so, hmm?"

Despite his sensei's pleasant voice Orochimaru could have felt the glare coming from his sensei from miles away. Shaking his head in the negative he said, "No! It _was_ just that one meeting. It was the offer that the child gave to me in that meeting that I found hard to resist however. And resist I simply cannot any longer after the recent developments."

Still skeptical Hiruzen said, "And this all has nothing to do with the Uzumakis' newfound resources?"

Orochimaru sighed a little. Truly his sensei's paranoia where the Uzumakis were concerned seemed phenomenal. Finally he said, "I can now have at my disposal endless resources and conduct my experiments without crossing almost _any_ boundaries. I can now pursue my goals without sacrificing my morality or facing any hurdle on resources. And I additionally have a standing offer to join and be part of something only one woman has offered to me previously. Tell me sensei, would _you_ choose differently were you in my shoes?"

For a moment there Hiruzen was stumped. Orochimaru, for the entire time that he knew him, _never_ opens up about his feelings and emotions to anyone – and even if he did, then Hiruzen was sadly not someone who made onto that short-list. And what was it about an offer? From _what_ woman? This is indeed the first time that he is hearing _those_. A little calmer now, Hiruzen inquired, "What offer is it?"

Hesitating but for a moment his student still replied softly, "The offer to join and be part of a clan."

Hiruzen did not take more than a few moments to put together the missing pieces of the puzzle. His face immediately softened. He knew the topic to be one of the very few sensitive ones for Orochimaru and it probably pained his student to even talk about it. Whatever bitterness and distrust has festered over the years between master and student, purged away instantly in order to allow Hiruzen to see his student in a new light. Deciding that Orochimaru was never the type of person to appreciate platitudes or sympathy, he returned his attention back to the detailed scroll his student had provided him with this morning.

Absently Hiruzen passed over a different detailed scroll to Orochimaru that by its appearance alone revealed that it has seen a lot of use recently. Being curious both at what his master was offering him and what suddenly changed his mind to stop the ongoing interrogation, Orochimaru deigned to open the scroll; and soon found himself engrossed in the detailed report of the Uzumaki development. The master meanwhile was busy learning just what sick depravity his childhood rival was up to. The image that the report was slowly helping him to sketch was frankly disgusting and just showed exactly how many lines the cyclops has crossed.

Once he was done with an initial overlook, Hiruzen set the report aside for a more detailed reading at a later time and raised his eyes to look at his student. Feeling the heavy gaze upon himself Orochimaru raised his head himself and rolled up the scroll he had been reading so far.

Nodding at said scroll Hiruzen asked, "So… what exactly is your opinion of them?"

Raising an eyebrow Orochimaru said, "Seriously? I think that we have on our hands two troublemakers who are insanely smart. One brother leads in the innovation, but the other is intelligent enough to catch up soon. That in itself is the strangest aspect of it all – and perhaps that is also what makes them so effective as a team.

"That being said, the science behind all this technology and how they came upon it all still escapes me. Still however, if indeed those two _have_ theorized and applied all their knowledge by themselves, I simply cannot explain in that case just _how_ monumental it is." Taking a pause Orochimaru tilted his head curiously, "How is your council taking all these developments again?"

Grumbling a little Hiruzen replied, "I am not particularly aware of that. I had just assuaged their most basic worries on the day the development first came upon us. All the while since then I have been busy either with cataloging a detailed report on all the developments from _**UzuCorp**_ , or at assigning the black-class drones into the various institutions of the village's military establishments. The council meeting shall commence five days from now. It will give the children enough time to prepare their case and also hopefully allow for one of their prospective representatives to arrive."

Orochimaru blinked in surprise, "Representatives? Surely you do not mean…" At Hiruzen's smug look his pupil uncharacteristically stuttered out, "But how did you manage _that_?"

Chuckling a little Hiruzen said, "By being intentionally vague about anything more than the words needed to express the importance of their presence in order to ensure the continued well-development of my charges."

Orochimaru just looked at his sensei blankly, " _They_ are going to be so _pissed_ off at you. Best of luck dealing with that."

Hiruzen couldn't help but grimace at that. Heaving a sigh he said, "Their combined wrath is but a small price to pay for the well-being of both my charges and eventually the village."

Shrugging Orochimaru said, "As long as that doesn't involve me, I wish you the best. If you do involve me however I shall not hesitate to betray you to the two of them."

With a twitching eye Hiruzen lamented. A scientist with a skewed sense of morality, a self-proclaimed reprobate super-pervert and an alcoholic gambler – _this_ is the shinobi legacy he will be leaving behind himself? Despite the enmity that had ensued between them more often than not, Hiruzen cannot help but thank Hattori Hanzō the Salamander for christening his team and giving them their infamous name and reputation. Else, he feared Tobirama-sensei _would_ have found a way to rise up from death just so he can beat his successor to a pulp. In fact he is quite surprised that the Nidaime hadn't yet done that already what with his propensity at resurrection techniques when he was alive. Hiruzen decided that he would count his dead sensei still remaining dead as a win in the favor of himself.

* * *

The lush and evergreen forests are one of the most significant factors that have made **_Hi no Kuni_** (Land of Fire) a powerhouse with plentiful resources since the ages past. The forests however have also made it one of the most contested lands – frequently in conflict and often a witness to countless brutal wars fought over its possession. In a way the advent of Konohagakure no Sato had actually stabilized the land's infighting nobility, especially after the First Secret Shinobi World War, and has thus also made the current ruling Toyotomi dynasty the longest ruling royal dynasty of Hi no Kuni in known records. The threat of shadow super-soldiers with mythical powers 'loyal' to the country is surprisingly a very good deterrent to any ideas of a rebellion, insurrection, treason or invasion.

Even a novice traveler can easily determine when they have trespassed form **_Yu no Kuni_** (Land of Hot Water) to **_Hi no Kuni_** (Land of Fire), by paying attention to the surrounding shrubbery. It was debatable however that the blurring blond projectile who was currently speeding through their way had even noticed anything from their surroundings that was not perceived as an obstacle or a threat (and thus indirectly an obstacle). A second, less noticeable black blur was quick to follow behind the path already traversed by the blond blur.

There was no conversation currently going on as time was of the utmost importance and despite their lifestyles, they were both shinobi first and foremost.

**_"THE GOLD AND BLOOD LEAVES ARE IN DIRE NEED OF THE PROTECTION OF THEIR TREE."_ **

That exactly had been the message she had received from her sensei, mused one Senju Tsunade – also dubbed as the "last" Senju. There had been no further explanations or anything else to help her assess the gravity of the situation, but it still took her less than twenty minutes to recover herself from her hung-over state of mind, settle her affairs and collect her apprentice and belongings. She has been on the road ever since and has yet to rest.

Shizune, though she was very bewildered, was so unnerved by her sensei's sudden sharp alertness and unmovable determination to reach Konoha, that she wasn't able to bring herself to even remotely object over the whole development. The fact that they were moving _towards_ Konoha instead of away from it is what made this development even more surreal, astounding and spectacular for her.

'It will be three more hours at our current speed before we reach Konoha,' mused Tsunade absently even as her body followed her command to move as fast as possible without succumbing to consequences that might affect her physically. Suddenly a brief quake rumbled through the forest floor but Tsunade was very familiar with the pattern and intensity of this quake to not instantly recognize it. Still however she did not break her pace.

Though hesitating a little at the impromptu quake, seeing her master ignoring it altogether had Shizune shrug off her own discomfort to resume her own pace.

Tsunade however was a little confused when another quake did not follow it. Her answers were soon realized when a white-blur joined in on the sprint. 'So he got off of his mount,' mused Tsunade absently. This clearly revealed that she was not the only one to receive a summon. She would have preferred had the lovable idiot put their common priorities over her state of mind and continued on faster on his mount. Still, even if she would never admit it aloud, she was appreciative of the unvoiced support offered by him. Again no conversation was necessary as they fell into a routine sprint that has been drilled into them what now seemed like ages ago. The familiarity of the exercise and participants kept Tsunade grounded and helped her focus more on her task.

She still however needed to reach the village _yesterday_!

* * *

The Hokage's personal meeting place is currently occupied by four people. The aged Hokage himself sat behind his desk – a smoking pipe in his mouth that he dragged from leisurely. Sitting in front him in seiza position were three people that were renowned throughout the village as the Elder councilpersons of Konoha. An aged woman with a wrinkled face – Utatane Koharu, a bespectacled elderly man – Mitokado Homura, and finally a heavily bandaged cyclops – Shimura Danzō, made up the rest of the occupants of the room.

Despite nothing pointing towards the reason behind it, the undercurrent of a tension in the surrounding atmosphere was felt by all the three elders and it had them all at an edge. For the four years Hiruzen had returned to the office, none of them could associate with him anything more than caustic reprimands at the worst. For some reason however the aged Hokage's demeanor today was reminding all three of them the persona that they were used to in Hiruzen's previous term. And subconsciously it had all the three of them cowed and hesitant to start any conversation – even Danzō did not fare much better. They even had currently no idea of why they were summoned there much less the reason behind the tenseness in the air. They all dearly hoped however that the two of them were in no way interconnected.

A sudden intrusion in the room's privacy was made via the open window by an unannounced and returning Tsunade and Jiraya – the both of whom looked wild and agitated.

"Uzumaki District is where you will find them. Orochimaru will be there as well. You cannot miss it. Be prepared to make an appearance for a council meeting in five days' time where the two brats _need_ to make an appearance. Good to see the both of you alive and healthy. Hope to see you two remaining in the village this time. We shall talk more later. Now get lost!" Hiruzen delivered the entirety of his speech without even looking at the way of his wayward students, the both of whom took their sensei's antics in stride and left as quick as they came in search of their charges.

Deciding the tension in the room to be considerably lighter now, Koharu decided to initiate dialogue a few moments after the two **_senin_** (sage) left – when it became apparent soon that Hiruzen doesn't seem too eager to begin conversation himself. "Honestly Hiruzen! You should reign in those two stude-"

That was as far as Koharu could go before the entire room suddenly got flooded by a potent and massive aura of killer-intent from the still calmly seating Hokage. The attack was quick, sudden and unexpected. It also had the desired effect of catching the three off-guard. Danzō – the one who seemed to be faring the best among the three – visibly looked to be having trouble in breathing.

Still looking at the scroll he had been reading from all this while, Hiruzen lazily reached across to a seal-matrix previously installed by his successor during his term, and activated it with a simple pulse of his chakra. Instantly the room became flooded with arrays of seals originating from the matrix whose effective range then went on to inhibit via distortion the sound waves from escaping the established close-system. Additionally the room now also became a veritable fortress essentially inaccessible to either invade or escape from without the Hokage's intervention. Uzumaki seals – you gotta love them.

Slowly pulling up his head whilst cracking the muscles on his neck Hiruzen offered his former teammates and members of the Elder Council a pleasant smile. And while the atmosphere inside the room started getting gradually lighter, the old Hokage's still friendly demeanor neither fooled the Elders nor comforted them. The entire unplanned and sudden meeting was going terribly out of any of their wildest expectations.

Seeing nobody else talking Hiruzen took a drag from his pipe and savored its burning flavor before releasing the smoke contently. Satisfied, he now began speaking, "Indeed my students are not the model shinobi that their reputation suggests them to be Koharu-chan." Even as they regained their composure, all the Elders were if possible, further disoriented by Hiruzen's use of an endearment-honorific to address his former teammate. Taking no notice Hiruzen continued, "But that is neither here nor there. We are here to currently discuss about you three, what you are up to, what your intentions are, how our future dealings will be conducted and finally depending upon whether you all satisfy me with your answers or not," here a menacing aura surrounded the smiling Hiruzen as he concluded with, "if you would live to go on and see the next day's sun."

The threats did its job to freeze all the tree of them up. And while Homura and Koharu were busy figuring out when and why Hiruzen had suddenly reverted to his old ways, Danzō had already figured out the answer to that and is currently busy now in figuring out how much the old monkey knew of his dealings and who could have leaked out the information. Of course it dawned on him not after who that could be – Orochimaru. While he had been as bewildered the two senin at Hiruzen's admission of the _**hebi-senin's**_ (Snake Sage) presence in the Uzumaki District, he now realized that that had been a hint that the old monkey had dropped for _his_ benefit.

That damned snake knew a lot of Danzō's secrets – probably because Danzō himself knew a lot of the snake's that he never believed he would have disclosed to his sensei. The Uzumaki development however had indirectly and very unexpectedly threw a wrench in his plans – just as the despicable clan is wont to do. The snake had probably parted with all of his secrets to Sarutobi happily in order to get any of the privileges that can be gained by closely associating with the Uzumakis. They are current undisputed superpower of Konoha and had usurped the contesting Hyūgas and Uchihas of their coveted position literally overnight. Also Hiruzen had maintained a personal attention upon his charges – so much so that Danzō himself had been hesitant to send any reconnaissance or acquisition squads after them in fear of the old monkey tracing the trail back to him. It goes without saying that Hiruzen is not hesitant to cross most lines when the safety of the Uzumakis is concerned – and that was before the two children-clan somehow became a superpower. His restraint and carefulness now seemed moot however as in the end the snake had apparently stabbed him in the back.

Danzō did not bother with claiming innocence or even defending his objective. Hiruzen is not someone to be so easily fooled and the fact that he was still alive hinted at the fat that he still had some use to the old monkey. With the now probable end of the secret ANBU division of ROOT in the very near future, Danzō now definitely needed a purpose. Composing himself thus, he finally asked of his childhood rival, "What do you need of us?"

Hiruzen simply smiled saccharinely. "Why? Your unanimous support of course!"

* * *

The prospect of seeing for themselves the 'renovation' in the once abandoned district is what has made it all the more surreal for Jiraya and Tsunade. They knew not what this was or how they came to be, but what they did know for sure is that they were one of the major reasons behind their getting summoned by their sensei. The fact that this massive understatement of a 'renovation' was made in the _Uzumaki_ District of all things further served to cement their theory. Thus on confirming their charges' whereabouts to be inside the district by their sensei, they took as little time as was possible to retrace their path back to the new Uzumaki District.

To say that Tsunade was amazed of the Districts new out-look would be an understatement. She had visited the district often once with her grandmother but had later respected Kushina's wishes and authority too much ever set foot there after Mitō passed away. This time however she was burdened with no such reservations and thus tore through the afternoon crowd to reach her destination.

It did not take either of Jiraya or Tsunade long to reach the entrance to sector-one. They were met at the entrance by Orochimaru of all people. Though that did not surprise them as their sensei did inform them of his presence here even if they had not paid much attention to it then.

What did surprise them however was the armored being that accompanied their team-mate. Even before they neared the two, both Jiraya and Tsunade had deduced that the being was too much made of metal to be human. The being had a shining black body with designed green circuitry on the outside. Its eye-pates glowed with an eerie yellow hue. These all along with its heavy build and a height that far surpassed even Jiraya's at about eight feet high, the mechanical being truly made an unnerving and intimidating sight even when both the **_gama_** (toad) and **_namekuji_** (slug) senin were confident to take it down in a fight should it come down to it.

On finally reaching the entrance, even before the united friends could exchange any pleasantries, the being spoke in a mechanical voice, " **Greetings:** Welcome to the Uzumaki District. **Statement:** I am designated the name HK07. **Warning:** You are about to trespass into restricted territory as specified by my master. **Commentary:** Failing to comply with the master's orders of not entering restricted territory has the consequence of myself trying to blast you two organic meatbags. **Exultation:** On that note, I urge you to please trespass – I have yet to prove my worth to my master. Killing you two meatbags in the honor of y master shall prove to him my worth and love for him."

The sociopathic speech said in a mechanical voice and full of false-cheerfulness and unadulterated menace did not in any way amuse the newly arrived senin. Still the sight of their relaxed teammate – no matter how distant these days – gave them both a pause. Quirking an eyebrow at the amused hebi-senin, Jiraya asked dryly while pointing at the designated HK07, "It is one of your sick creations, isn't it? How any times do I have to tell you to live up little? See where your mania is now leading you down to, you bastard? What is this thing anyway."

Before Orochimaru could even open his mouth, the being spoke again, " **Statement:** The meatbag beside me is not my master. My master is also my creator Uzumaki Yamisuke. **Warning:** Stating any otherwise would lead to the immediate shortening of your organic life-span at the wrong end of my blaster. **Afterthought:** _This thing_ is one of the first combat and protocol droid of clan Uzumaki, constructed by my maker Uzumaki Yamisuke and tasked with the job of protecting the restricted clan territories and its members. Of course there is a 1% probability that I interpreted the maker's wishes wrong and must kill any organic beings near the close proximity of his clansmen – but I must admit that that might be wishful thinking on my part."

Both Jiraya and Tsunade gawked in disbelief. Their eyes stretched wide in incredulity at the insane mechanical droid's claims on who its master and creator is.

Orochimaru meanwhile simply smiled while enjoying the finer things in his life. Now he truly felt like belonging to a clan where sheer chaos, insanity and mostly unpredictability is both the norm and the rule. And of course the face Jiraya is currently making is alone worth it. He is seriously coming to somehow enjoy his decision _very_ much.

* * *

The moment is turning out to be as surreal as it can get, Tsunade noted. Meeting Naruto and Yamisuke had been something she had always dreamt about and yet had never managed to gather the courage to do so in reality. Her shame at her initial hesitance to return to the village after the Kyūbi incident, had slowly over time festered into self-loathing and guilt – and those two combined had always somehow managed to convince her that the children were better off without her presence in their life. Of course fate had a way of tossing her plan away in seemingly the blink of an eye.

The two children have done some amazing things that have indirectly decided for Tsunade that her presence is needed here more than anywhere else. And she was thankful to have come to that realization – it was that after all which has given her the courage to finally face her priorities. When her sensei's short-note had reached her, she did not take more than twenty minutes to be on the road back home and she is proud to say that she did not even take a moment to decide on her next course of action – that she was returning had become an inevitable decision right then. And while she was very relieved that her presence was not required here due to something that have happened to the children but more due to something that they have inadvertently made happen, she has now determined that she is sticking to her decision to the bitter end.

And to that effect Tsunade had sat down her charges in the living room of the new Uzumaki compound – another futuristic architecture built on a short-scale but apparently furnished with even more technology than the buildings in the commercial sectors she had been told – and with her teammates and apprentice (who has finally made her way from the front-gates after dealing with both Jiraya and Tsunade's legal entry permits in their absence) as witnesses, she confessed all her darkest secrets, revelations, fears and insecurities. Finally at the end she now awaited her judgment. She has prepared herself for the worst-case scenario. She certainly deserved both the young Uzumakis' hatred and scorn as she knew that she herself would not have been merciful if she were in their shoes.

Tsunade had however resolved that if necessary, she would spend the rest of her life in repentance while seeking forgiveness from those two. She _will_ have to somehow make up for all that they had to suffer from in their so short lives.

In the heavy silence that followed, she, her teammates and her apprentice waited without speaking as the two children digested the load of information dumped on them. They also seemed to be having a conversation while holding each other's gaze – something that fascinated the other occupants of the room to no end.

Yamisuke for himself had decided that **_canon_** effectively sucked. Either that or he was in some Narutoverse based on some **_legends_** that he had never known to exist. There was no other explanation that solved his dilemma. With a weary sigh he broke the heavy silence that had fallen on the room and addressed everyone else. "So let e get this straight. Tou-chan, who is widely believed to be an orphan is not actually an orphan – something that even Mitō baa-chan never knew about. Instead he was," here Yamisuke gestured at Tsunade, "your child with," now gesturing at Jiraya, "you. How come he inherited the Namikaze name again? I would have surely remembered a Namikaze Jiraya as _the_ gama-senin and something tells me that it was not inherited from the Senju clan either."

Jiraya finally took to answering that one. "That would be from me I am afraid." At the attention now focused on himself Jiraya explained further, "It might not be a well-known fact but I was not exactly born in the village. Sarutobi-sensei actually rescued me from the arms of my dying mother when I was about three years old. Not much do I remember from that part of my life other than the fact that I had a father and a mother, and that we lived in a village on the southern coast of Hi no Kuni that overlooked the _Hanguri Gulf_. Most probably my parents lived off of fishing. Even my clan name was not something I would have remembered had my mother not whispered it to Sarutobi-sensei before her dying-breath. My father – I do not know the whereabouts of."

Pausing a little in his reminiscing, Jiraya took a sip from a nearby bottle of water even as everyone among his audience paid hi their utmost attention. Despite her past with the man, even Tsunade was hearing it from the source for the first time as the topic of his origins was always too sensitive for Jiraya. She knows not whether Minato was ever privy to this knowledge from his father in his life. That Jiraya is divulging them all today, goes on to say that indeed he cared for his grandsons as much as she did and was equally suffering from the pain of loosing their son even after four years.

Heaving a sigh Jiraya resumed, "By the time Minato was born, Tsunade was already the last Senju alive and any traces of whatever infamy the Namikaze name could have caused, I had believed it to be long lost in the Second Secret Shinobi World War. With the propensity at which shinobi and even the rare civilians with the Senju name kept getting attacked and killed, the Senju name was deemed unsafe to let Minato carry.

"Added with the fact that I never took up my clan-name in the fear that whatever attacked my family might come after me, we had arranged for Minato the perfect alias to hide his relationship to both myself and Tsunade. Later at the age of five when he decided to be a shinobi, with some maneuvering from sensei we had arranged for Minato to enter the academy with the back-story of an orphan from one of the village's outlying orphanages." Here Jiraya paused again before suddenly chuckling. Looking directly at his enraptured grandchildren he concluded his tale, "Of course then the brat had to go and make the Namikaze clan-name so infamous that sensei deemed for his sons the _Uzumaki_ clan-name as somehow a lesser cause for unwanted attention."

Nodding sagely Naruto said, "And we are indeed grateful for that. We find ourselves quite attached to the legacy of the spiral." The other occupants in the room chuckled at the blond's attempt at bringing some levity in the room.

As the laughter finally died down Tsunade began the dreaded conversation, "So with all our admission now laid before you two, Naruto and Yamisuke… can the both of you find it in yourselves to accept us in your life? Neither Jiraya nor myself shall ask for forgiveness – we both are aware that that has to be earned. However if the both of you would give us the chance-"

Waving away frantically Yamisuke exclaimed, "Whoa! Whoa! You are talking unnecessarily here." At both Jiraya and Tsunade's crushed expression he realized his mistake and thus rushed to clarify, "I _meant_ of course we forgive you and all that. We are just glad that you both are here _now._ "

At that admission both Jiraya and Tsunade suffered from their second shock of the day. With barely concealed incredulity Tsunade exclaimed, "You _forgive_ us? Just like that?"

Naruto frowned, "Of course we do. We would much rather not waste the time we can utilize in getting to know the both of you with pointless anger and resentment. I mean we would have obviously preferred your presence while growing up, but we are nonetheless still grateful that you both are here _now._ Better late than never I say."

Nodding along Yamisuke offered his own support to his older brother's cause, "Yes indeed! Expressing or even harboring anger and resentment over your absence is too energy-consuming a task for a pointless purpose. Both of that energy and time is better spent at getting to know our grandparents. As long as you are both here now, we have nothing to complain about."

The Densetsu no San'nin and their one apprentice were all rendered overwhelmed and simply speechless at the face of the matured perspective they had least expected from children who were barely four. In fact they wouldn't expect people thrice their age to act with such maturity to forgive and accept their largely absentee grandparents with open-arms.

"So… can we hug or something for starters?" asked Naruto introspectively with his face scrunched up in an adorable display of concentration.

With glistening eyes Tsunade simply smiled tremulously. Removing herself from her seat she crossed over to her grandsons in a couple of quick strides and then gathered both the children in her embrace. Despite wanting to join in as well Jiraya restrained himself. Tsunade needed this much more than he did and he can wait for his bonding time with his grandsons until a while later.

Suddenly breaking the comfortable silence with a chuckle Orochimaru said pleasantly to the children still in Tsunade's tight embrace. "Now this solves the dilemma of filling-in for the council-meeting five days later. I am quite glad I do not have to suffer from Danzō's scowling face throughout the entirety of the meeting. With both your grandparents now in the village you can have either of them fill up for you."

Blinking owlishly Jiraya said, "Why on earth would _you_ have substituted for the Uzumaki seats?"

Smiling in a manner that clearly expressed how much pleased he was with the situation Orochimaru said, "Oh you didn't know? Kukukuku… I just got officially adopted in the clan this very morning."

A silence again encompassed the entirety of the room before…

**_"WHAT!?"_ **

And _that_ was how both Jiraya and Tsunade found themselves shocked for the _third_ time that day.

* * *

The council meeting room was situated on the first floor of the Kage Building, which in turn was situated protectively between the Hokage Rock Monument and the rest of the village proper. Currently the room was densely packed with people from four major factions. The first faction was also the most respected one – the Elder faction. It is headed by the Hokage himself and consists of whomever he deems his trusted advisors – limited to only four advisors that the Hokage has the authority to appoint for every meeting. To mark their authority this faction is positioned in the room so that they face the other three factions with the Hokage himself sitting in a central position.

The faction that comes in second in the hierarchical ladder is constituted of the representatives of Konoha's noble-clans. The total seats this faction constitutes of is twelve and they are the – Senju, Uchiha, Sarutobi, Hyūga, Aburame, Inuzuka, Yamanaka, Nara, Akimichi, Shimura, Kurama and the perhaps most important one in the current circumstances – the Uzumaki. These were the only seats in the entire council that passes on hereditarily and it has been a long while since the Senju and Uzumaki seats were occupied – something that had any other occupants in the room very excited.

The next faction comprises of representatives from Konoha's administrative and shinobi establishments such as the library, hospital, orphanage, academy, T&I, R&D, etc. Chief among them all were the two most coveted seats – that of the Jōnin commander (currently occupied by Nara Shikaku) and his counterpart in the ANBU commander (currently occupied by secret agent **_Inu_** (Dog)).

The last faction comprises wholly of civilians and thus were mockingly named by the other three factions as the 'civilian council' due to the members' propensity for pitiful posturing and insignificant power-plays that they often exhibit in affairs which are pertaining entirely to the shinobi. This faction is a varied group consisting people ranging from various civilian market officials to the village's most powerful and influential businessmen and merchants. A common notion also prevalent in this group is the notion that the village could be better governed under a democratic administration rather than a dictatorship. It goes without saying that the other three factions disagreed and all the efforts made by the 'civilian council-people' to make their voices 'heard' only managed to serve as entertainment.

It is also the 'esteemed' members of this faction who has been creating a ruckus sine the Hokage had called the meeting under motion. The reasons behind this disturbance? The new constructs in the Uzumaki District of course! Not an insignificant amount of the negative sentiments emanating from these members, were also due to who exactly the 'builders' behind the creations were.

Defending the interests of their grandsons at the meeting today were Senju Tsunade (sitting in her capacity as the Senju representative) and Jiraya (sitting in his capacity as the Uzumaki regent) – both moves that quite frankly surprised the other attendees while also managing to baffle the civilian council-persons. Further baffling was the sudden shut-down from the three Elders who served as the Hokage's advisors. Where they had previously always supported the cause of the civilian council, today they seem to be trying _very_ hard to pretend as if they never existed – with the exception of Elder councilman Danzō of course; he however seemed rather busy glaring acidly at Elder councilman Orochimaru – a sudden last-minute inclusion in the advisory board by the aged Hokage.

It did not need a genius to now realize that for the purpose of this meeting today, the entirety of the 'shinobi council' had unanimously taken the one side to face the whole 'civilian-council' with a united front. To make matters worse, not an insignificant number of the members off the civilian-faction were actually unsure of the purpose of their protests – and any among them were slowly getting swayed into thinking along the quite persuasive lines of Clan councilman Jiraya and Clan councilwoman Tsunade. The fact that those two were also quite viciously dismantling any and all protests rising against the restructured Uzumaki District, was not helping the cause of the obstinate and conservative members of the civilian-faction; which also had the added effect of leaving them floundering after themselves. Currently the opposition were now reduced to making the most petty complains in the hopes of using something to supplement their arguments: this time it being the buildings look too grotesque and imposing, they shouldn't be taller than the Kage Building (even if everyone ignored the fact that several departmental stores and mansions of influential civilians were usually one-story higher than the Kage Building as well) and that the shadow it casts over the surrounding areas throughout the day is an inconvenience for others (of course none from the Uchiha, Sarutobi, Kurama or even the Hyūga clans were actually asked for their opinions even if it were _them_ who were the neighbors to the Uzumaki).

From where both Naruto and Yamisuke (the aforementioned 'builders') were sitting as guest attendees, they could clearly see Tsunade's facial expression had tightened – a clear sign of her ever rising frustration they have learnt in the last five days. Even Jiraya's ever present smile seemed a lot strained at the moment. Finally heaving a sigh Yamisuke decided to intervene. "Shadow cast by our buildings are an inconvenience to others you say?" asked the boy tiredly even as his voice had the effect of quieting the room and bringing everyone's focus right on him. Ignoring them all he retrieved one of his new-built datapad and activated the installed cloaking-command with a few clicks on the touch-screen interface.

Even if almost everyone were puzzled initially at what exactly the boy was doing in the beginning, the results however were witnessed by them all. In stark reminiscent of how the buildings had appeared a few weeks ago, the buildings suddenly disappeared from view – leaving behind it an illusion of the commercial sectors in its previous abandoned glory. Everyone was left a little jarring when the sight of the imposing buildings which had been a daily constant the last few weeks, suddenly disappeared from existence.

"There," said Naruto. "Now you cannot have much complaints about our buildings' grotesqueness, the shadow it casts or that they far outstrip this Kage Building in height."

"Sweet Kami!" Clan councilwoman Yamanaka Yakasa swore softly with wide eyes. Her husband – Administrative councilman Yamanaka Inoichi – currently attending in his capacity as the head of the Psyche Division was not faring any better and neither were the others who were present and were not in 'the-know'.

Clan councilman Hyūga Hiashi was somewhat comforted however on discovering that whatever the cloaking technology it was, it did not actually shielded the buildings from his clan blood-line. Still he wouldn't have _known_ where to focus his sight had he not been aware – which in itself made this technology ingenious in its applications.

"Was that some seal?" wondered an _alert_ Administrative councilman Nara Shikaku – a sight _very_ rarely seen indeed.

Shaking his head in the negative Naruto said, "No it's a cloak-field that is somewhat distorting the incident light from the sun to produce a hologram of the desired image." Seeing almost everyone's blank looks he sighed (feeling some sympathy for his brother while he was at it) and said, "Lets say that they are some never before seen Genjutsu producing seals that use the sunlight to power itself. As the sunlight will wane at the end of the day the sector shall slowly appear as well. The other four sectors have always been under this field and are powered by constant light from other sources."

For a moment more everyone maintained the gobsmacked silence before Clan councilwoman Inuzuka Tsume cracked a laugh. "That right there gives a new meaning to our hidden village altogether. A hidden district in a hidden village."

Finding nothing amusing in this development, Danzō turned to Hiruzen sharply and exclaimed, "And you knew about it?"

Shrugging nonchalantly Hiruzen said, "I did. I do not see how that is important however. This meeting has long descended from an educated discussion to childish bickering." Seeing Danzō begin to form a rebuttal, a sharp and concentrated unleashing of his killer-intent had the cyclops brought back in line however grudgingly.

Among the stupefied civilian masses it was one of the more conservative councilman Minamoto who regained his power of speech first; and then exclaimed he did _very_ passionately, "Are we now considering to give so much power and authority to _them_? I personally would never consider setting foot in _that_ commercial district if I can help it."

Tsunade was very quick to rise to her response, "Then don't. we have people from other outlying villages preparing to immigrate as it is. Our economy, I assure you, will not fail without your patronage."

Even as all the civilians suffered from a cold-sweat at loosing so many of their ventures overnight, Minamoto obstinately rallied his cause. "How can _you_ of all people think of supporting these-"

"COUNCILMAN!" roared Jiraya effectively cowering the entirety of the room with his suddenly released aura. Even Hiruzen had to admit it was impressive – Jiraya had he wished it would have made a great successor to the office of the Hokage. Even as he calmed down his aura gradually – for his startled grandsons' sake if for no one else's – his intervention did the job of silencing the Minamoto. With a growl Jiraya warned, "I would check the words issuing from my mouth if I were in your place Minamoto-san."

Said councilman found himself very scared at that moment as he faced down the arguably strongest of the San'nin. On an impulse he suddenly surveyed his surroundings. On his side he found his fellow councilpersons in the civilian faction trying their damnest to distance themselves from him. Even the most foolhardy of them knew that openly expressing their feelings in middle of a council-meeting is recipe for destruction at the hands of ninja and they wanted nothing to do with someone who might as well have drew the entire military wrath on his head.

On the opposite end Minamoto discovered that the two factions have already recovered from Jiraya's outburst and was now directing towards him their unadulterated hostility. Worst of the all was coming from the three San'nin and members of the clans – Tsunade especially had veins bulging out of her balled fists and her glare seemed to be truly wrathful and bordering on murderous at the moment. On second thoughts was Clan councilwoman Mikoto sitting with her Sharingan activated? Minamoto quickly averted his gaze – deciding it was not worth to investigate _that_.

Lastly Minamoto found the Hokage staring at him calmly unlike his students. Minamoto however found no comfort in that fact. Even without being a shinobi he knew that nothing good or compassionate lay under that blanket of calm.

Unbidden a bead of sweat rolled down the side Minamoto's face even as the stifling silence ensued.

"Demons?" the soft exclamation pierced through the pregnant silence. Everyone whipped their heads in surprise towards the speaker and both shinobi and civilians alike were stupefied to find the source of the word to be a sad-looking Naruto. The child however had his sad gaze focused solely on Minamoto, "C'mon councilman Minamoto… at least finish saying what you started. I assure you that among the everyone of us currently gathered here, no one is oblivious to whom my brother and myself contain. You might as well have the courage to come out and say it rather than stifling your sentiments inside yourself."

Even as a current of shock spread through the gathered crowd, councilman Minamoto suddenly couldn't find his voice anymore. And neither could he rediscover the power to divert his gaze from the blond child.

It was Yamisuke who spoke next, "It was but a few weeks ago that we last met you councilman Minamoto, don't you remember driving away my brother from the front of your bakery while loudly exclaiming that you do not serve to the likes of us?" Yamisuke's query only served to further fuel the heated gaze Minamoto was receiving and yet he could only manage to divert his gaze enough that now both the children were in the range of his sight.

Yamisuke continued speaking his piece, "And yet here I am today where both I and my brother are enthusiastic to do business with you while ensuring that you do not have to suffer any more from the financial impositions leveled upon us by the Daimyō."

Slowly rising up from where he had been sitting with his brother, Yamisuke concluded in a thoughtful tone, "Councilman, if you consider yourself higher than us by chasing away hungry orphans from your doorsteps, I daresay I find ourselves much more agreeable of our status as 'demons'. Even if you do not accept our generosity out of some skewed childish pettiness, at least we demons can still sleep at night knowing that _we_ offered our aid. I believe that is more than you can say for yourself councilman. Or do you claim to sleep better after spending the entire day chasing away hungry orphans? Perhaps Minamoto-san you should try learning how to be a human before learning to chase demons, hmm?"

Not giving the shame-faced councilman a second thought Yamisuke then turned to the aged Hokage, "Apologies for our interruption this day jī-san, but I and my brother no longer see any reasons for our continued stay here. Do we have your permission to leave?"

Nodding wearily Hiruzen said, "You do… the both of you."

As another Civilian councilman protested weakly, "But we haven't yet discussed any ventures…"

The black droid HK07, who had till now mostly went unnoticed by the civilians, suddenly spoke up in a mechanical voice that also portrayed its unique cheerful menace, " **Fact:** It gives my master tremendous migraines to think down to _your_ level meat-bag. **Suggestion:** I wish you'd just tell my master what you want clearly rather than trying to engage my enthusiasm for skillful violence. **Warning:** You can fit my capacity for empathy towards organic meatbags that are not my master in a match-box without taking out the matches first."

Even as the clan droid's macabre sense of humor lightened down the tension from the shinobi attendees, the civilians only grew more unnerved at the thinly issued threats.

"Yo-you are m-making tha-t u-up," the very same councilman spoke up in a false bravado.

Tilting his head HK07 replied, " **Conjecture:** Why should I want to make anything up? Life is bad enough as it is without trying to invent more of it."

Even as the droid's reassurance of its honesty towards the religion of violence further turned the civilian councilpersons pale in fright, one Civilian councilwoman Haruno spoke up without any fear, "What I wish to know Uzumaki-san, is that when can we gather in a private setting to discuss possible joint-ventures." Mebuki dispassionately ignored her fellow colleagues. If they wanted to be stubborn enough to loose such prospects, it was their decision. She however can foresee where _her_ clan's future lay.

Knowing exactly who the woman was, Yamisuke calmly said, "As the first among your colleagues to do so, I assure to you the privilege to choose from whatever venture you wish to be a part of in our collective interests. Meet us in our sector-three entry point and a protocol droid will lead you and your associates to my meeting place. Make it a dinner appointment. Consider it as our efforts in expressing our appreciation towards our first prospective business-partners."

Bowing her head once in a customary thanks Haruno Mebuki smiled, "I appreciate that and accept your offer in good faith. You and your brother have my thanks for your time Uzumaki-san."

Nodding once Naruto and Yamisuke took their leave with their droid. At the entry-point they met up with Rin and Shizune, both of whom under Tsunade's behest escorted them out. Even as her colleagues looked at her in incredulity over the development, Haruno Mebuki calmly sipped from her cup of tea unrepentantly. The early bird catches the worm indeed.

From where she sat, clan councilwoman Nara Yoshino, muttered, "The woman is shrewdly cunning – even more than a kunoichi sometimes."

Nodding in appreciation Tsume said, "The bitch may not be a ninja, but that doesn't mean she does not excel in her chosen profession."

Coming from Tsume, used Yoshino and an eavesdropping Yakasa and Mikoto, it was as good a compliment as a civilian is going to get from her.

Taking charge of the meeting in the pause following the Uzumaki children's departure, Hiruzen suddenly declared, "On that note, I announce on this day, the absolvent of the special organization of the Seven Ninja Guardsmen."

A shocked gasp tore through many of the room's occupants. The Seven Ninja Guardsmen had been one of the humiliating clauses Konoha had agreed to from the Daimyō's court at the conclusion of the First Secret Shinobi World War. Even though the victor, the clause had been one of the many Konoha had to agree to in order for the country to supplement the village with resources. Though lauded as a prestigious position, in reality it is a humiliating position where in at least one member of the reigning Hokage's family serves as the Daimyō's bodyguard for free – a great insult to any shinobi.

However the Uzumaki development has now changed the game – something all current occupants of the room were slowly starting to realize. For the Hokage to declare the absolvent of the Seven Ninja Guardsmen – it is as good a declaration of independence from the control of the Fire Daimyō as any.

For the first time in a long while Danzō smiled. Yes,… he could see himself getting behind _this_ Hokage. Perhaps, he mused, it is indeed for the best to allow the Uzumakis to go on their rampages if only Hiruzen would keep working in this manner.

* * *

> **(A/N): That's it for me today I guess. I declare today that all the knots for my story's baseline foundation has been hereby tied up.** **A somewhat time-skip on the next chapter along with returning to the perspectives of two brothers solely (almost) again.** **Do review please…**
> 
> **So I had a genuinely interesting review that I took the pain to answer with VERY big lines. And it pertains to a lot of aspects and concerns of my stories that I decided to share both the review and my response here and on my profile as well, to answer any such queries rising in the future.**
> 
> **_(Review):_ **
> 
> **_Okay... I don't have a problem with Naruto being older than Yami. NO problem at all. I don't have a problem with making them or just him super OP. What I do have a problem is Orochimaru. From what I understand is that he went rouge during the Third Shinobi War or a short time after. He was declared nuke-nin for the experiments he had conducted IN Konoha. Sarutobi was still Hokage and let Orochimaru go instead of killing him. Therefore, it does not make any sense for him to still be there at least ten years later_ **
> 
> **(Answer) _:_**
> 
> _**To be quite honest with you, it was quite a mess of timelines in canon. Sometimes they said the San'nin to have risen during the Third War and then they claim it to be the Second War. Once they said Uzushio was destroyed at the beginning of the Third War and then they say it was at the end of the Second War. I don't even know why the First War was fought so I substituted it with a logical scenario - that of the civilian governments the world over getting too Ansty of established shiobi factions rather than warring ones. We don't know when or how Hashirama dies and canon proclaims it to be at the First War which also took Tobirama's life. And don't even get me on the rather convoluted case of the Gold and Silver brothers once staging an assassination during a Konoha-Kumo peace talk and thus starting the First War and then Tobirama is said to have been killed by the Gold Force after the war started. I mean where the heck was the almighty Hashirama? Who the hell even killed him? The bloke has to be infamous for succeeding where Madara and Kakuzu failed.** _
> 
> _**Not wanting to deal with it all I revamped the entire timeline in my retconned lore - and don't worry for those are what are going to make Yamisuke's life more hellish and get readers more interested. I already gave him a curve ball by keeping Rin alive and soon he will realize that while many scenarios will play out the same he is not in a world that respects canon much. Essentially the acts will be there but the actors and circumstances not so much.** _
> 
> _**Now as for your question on Orochimaru - I will begin with agreeing with you. But I have a better use for him than portraying him as some jaded psycho scientist whose reasons for betraying his village made as much sense to me as the sequel triology Anakin Skywalker's sudden fall to the dark side and cravings for jedi hunting - starting with children. (Seriously I had given up on Star Wars until the clone wars tv series started running at which point the elder Skywalker became so favourite of mine that I refuse to believe that that character and the Vader from original series and rebels are the same - they have to be from some alternate universes because I refuse to believe that Sidious can turn this Anakin when the celestial Son couldn't). Well Orochimaru at least at the end became useful in a greater capacity than a wailing Vader brute forcing his master to an anticlimatic end did.** _
> 
> _**Orochimaru is the proverbial middle ground between my OC and the rest of the village as I cannot envision any other characters here. Give the man his test subjects to keep him happy and he is surprisingly mellow. Give him extra knowledge to pursue and he is ecstatic. And whatever need is there for him as an antagonist - well the Narutoverse has enough of them for somebody else to fill the required niches.** _
> 
> _**So yeah I tweaked the timelines in my favorite a little. Killed Hashirama (reasons even if haven't prepared yet for I still cannot fathom just what the f*#k killed him). Tobirama died at the peacetalks after covering the grounds for the six of his students to escape - thus triggering the Second War. Had the San'nin rise to infamy alongside the White Fang in this war where Konoha fought against Ame somewhere. Took down Uzushio at the end of this war as a major factor for its conclusion. Then had the Third War where Konoha allied with Suna and Ame to fight against the Kumo-Kiri-Iwa backed Kusa. Killed Sakumo Hatake in this war as well. And lastly delayed Orochimaru betraying the village until Hiruzen took the office the second time - or would have done so had canon events played out by my timeline.** _
> 
> _**On this note I conclude that all the big inconsistencies I have, are foundations for the plot I have cooked up in my mind. So while I will follow canon events (at least until the shippuden archive hopefully) the events in themselves will be played by different characters and due to different scenarios or circumstances. I respect canon but will not adhere to it as otherwise I might as well have copied then all down after all. I will leave out the hint however that my endgame is very far away and traverses a trail of windy and very unexpected road. That is however if I can get to traverse the path and reach my endgame of course.** _

**Signing off** _**,** _

**~Ryuukage5400**


End file.
